Void: Broken Pieces
by Ghost-Drive
Summary: When Sora marched on for his final battle, he has yet to realize that his enemy is within. When a part of him breaks free, robbing half of his heart, Sora had to face the most impossible enemy: himself. R&R please!
1. A Start, an End

**A/N**: Crap! where did all my quotation marks go? I had to go and repair this! Uh- I dont know if this thing is an **AU** _(alternate universe- meaning that the story is of an original plot standing on its own rather than basing itself on the main, original storyline)_ fic or not, but... Sure, in order to make this I have twisted a bit the final battle of Kingdom Hearts II. This fan-fiction is based on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

**Warning:** This story contains **spoilers**. Spoilers from all the games, to be exact. So I would not exactly recommend you reading this if you are not experienced with the game firsthand. Except... you like spoilers; now that's another story.

Oh, and Im looking for somebody who is kind enough to beta this fic. I accept transferring the document either from the Document Exchange feature provided by the itself or via e-mail. The assistance that I will be expecting is of spelling, grammar, and a little bit of brainstorming, as this story has not yet developed a very stable plot.

If you are interested in Vocaloid AU fan-fictions, why dont you have a look at my other story, Daughter of the White Tiger? ;D

Disclaimer (that applies for the rest of the story): I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts, Disney and Square Enix do.  


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Mirelle94Dancer presents:  
A Kingdom Hearts Fan-fiction

** Prologue:  
A Start, an End **

Atop of The Castle that Never Was, in a part that was situated below the Altar of Naught, a couple of tents were set for the members of Soras team to be able to rest. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were all in a peaceful state, with Mickey curled up into a ball, Donald mumbling something about asking forgiveness to Daisy, his fiance: and Goofy, being the goofy person he is, slept when forgetting to take off his uncomfortable armor.

Meanwhile, inside another tent, Kairi had slept soundly, clearly being exhausted from the fact that she had fought against countless Heartless alongside Riku, her reunion with Sora, and seeing someone... to be precise, Ansem the Wise die in front of her eyes. All those events are bound to take a toll on both her body and mind, either positively or negatively. But of the entire bunch of possibilities one thing was obvious; that it would drain her of her strength.

At the same time, Sora was sitting calmly outside one of the tents; his gaze was focused into the dark sky situated between the realm of light and darkness. The black space that surrounded this place was so empty; devoid of any stars that would otherwise spread all over the sky.

"Too scared to sleep, the chosen one?" a voice called out jokingly, Sora turned his head around to meet Riku, waving at the silver-haired boy as he put himself on a more comfortable position. Riku let out a wide, rather toothy grin as the person offended was grumbling a little.

"I couldve said the same to you!" the brunette retaliated, as his friend sat beside him. "Youre not sleeping either, am I right, or I am right?"

"Yes, yes. Youre right" Riku gave in to Soras stubbornness. "Well... its just a habit I picked up after staying in the darkness for some time; my body adapt to darkness better than light now" he raised his gloved left hand and flexed it a bit, staring at meant hand when he did so. "Maybe the king was right. I spent too much time inside the darkness"

"Oh, come on!" Sora patted Rikus back with a power that would have knocked the silver-haired boy from the edge of the tall building if Riku had not resisted the hit and retaliated himself. "You cant say that... in fact, whats the difference, really?"

"My appearance, forgot that already?" Riku commented dryly, sending a look of sarcasm towards his friend.

"Your... appearance?" Sora wondered for a while before flashbacks from not too long ago stormed him. "Oh yeah... your appearance... sorry about that"

"Nah, its alright" Riku quickly dismissed the topic. "Now were back and together again, thats what matters"

"Yeah" Sora added a nod to show his agreement to the statement. "Funny, the three of us had actually exchanged that fruit- and it really works" Sora dug into his pocket and retrieved a charm; it was made of seashells with a whitish-purple hue, brought together with a string to form a star of some sorts. A smile was also drawn into it, along with a pair of black eyes.

Riku eyed the charm for a moment before he made a whistle. "You have to keep sure you dont lose it, then" he said, successfully turning the other teenager face a reddish hue. "Eternal connection; not many girls give gifts that symbolize eternal connection to their boyfriends - Kairi is quite on the aggressive side, doncha think?"

"Yeah..." Sora stared blankly at the charm for a while, before realizing what his friend had just said to him. "Hey! When was I declared Kairis boyfriend?" he turned around in shock and embarrassment, face flushing with red.

"Since I declared so" Riku answered jokingly." I mean... come on! I saw you two going to that secret place... and you two definitely got the hots for each other! I mean, youre hugging in front of public; hell, even in front of Nobodies!"

"You're jealous or what?"Sora gave Riku a light hit on the back on his neck, and they both laughed together. Not long after that, Sora stifled a yawn.

"I think Im not that well suited to this time as much as you, Riku" he said jokingly, before getting up and walking back into his tent. "See you tomorrow"

"Well, Im staying. See ya" the silver-haired boy replied, waving his hand. Sora returned this act with a nod before going straight into the tent, making a loud yawn in the process. Riku turned his sight back into the starless sky, covered with dark clouds of all sorts.

"I just..." Riku muttered to nobody in particular, holding out his right hand to summon his keyblade; "Way to the Dawn", as it was named. "I just have a bad feeling about where is this battle going to bring us..."  


* * *

  
"Hey..." a voice called; appearing along with a bright light that penetrated Soras eyes. "Wake up..."

When Sora had opened his eyes, what he felt was not the soft sheet that had covered the tent he had slept in. In fact, he was not wearing his sleeping clothes anymore; the clothes that he used to fight against heartlesses and Nobodies had replaced its place. Sora stood up, trying to comprehend his situation and where he was.

But one thing that he could be sure: that this place is nowhere situated inside The Castle that Never Was. All around, he could only see the darkness that shrouded the place. What was more shocking, however, was the floor he was stepping on. It was as if made of embossed glass, each piece containing different color and each radiating their own light.

In addition, a boy, who was around Sora's age, was standing on the center of the platform, rather than Sora's position being in the edge.

"...Roxas?" the words had barely escaped from Sora's mouth. He was in shock, too much shock as of now. The last time he had ventured in this place was when he had fainted in the dark city, and he ended up fighting another boy, who ended the fight with saying, "You make a good other"

If Sora would meet someone again in the same place, wouldn't it be him?

"No, I'm not your Nobody" The figure answered. "I'm somebody else... Actually, I've been here for quite a long time, though"

Hearing this, Sora immediately entered a battle stance, summoning his Keyblade; the Kingdom Key. In a flash of light the weapon appeared, and Sora readied himself for any possible incoming blow.

"Whoa, easy!" The blond boy yelled, almost frightened by the act of Sora summoning his Keyblade. "I'm not going to wreck anything inside, promise! I haven't even touched anything these years!"

Sora kept silent, his eyes trying to judge the personality of this mysterious blond. From the first glance, he closely resembles Roxas... but with a much more light-hearted personality. Even as Sora was staring at him with eyes full of doubt, he was putting his hand behind his head nonchalantly, as if not sensing the ill means thrown against him.

_"Is he one of those pure-hearted ones..."_ Sora thought for a moment, while keeping his gaze at the boy, who in return gave him a warm smile, _"Or is he just an IDIOT?"_

"You don't seem dangerous" Sora concluded, returning the Keyblade into a flash of light. "Though I do HOPE that I won't regret this..." he put his face on his gloved left hand. "So, what's your name? Mine's Sora"

"Me?" The blond boy asked, before receiving a nod and a glare simultaneously. "I'm Ventus. But you can call me Ven"

The two shook hands, and Sora felt as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from his chest when he knew this Ventus guy had no ill means with him. But one thing that he said before piqued his interest.

"I wanted to ask you something..." Sora said, but his attention was soon distracted by the surroundings of The Station of Awakening slowly turning from pitch-black into white.

"I'm afraid it'll have to wait until later, Sora" Ventus answered, also noticing the change on their surrounding. "It's time for you to wake up for real, but I'm sure we'll meet again" the blond boy waved Sora a farewell before he was consumed in the bright light.  


* * *

  
Sora opened his eyes, only to find his face right in front of a certain anthropomorphic duck's bill which was positioned in less than a few centimeters distance from his nose. In surprise, the brunette immediately got up, pressing his nose hard into the bill in the process.

"Ouch!" Both Sora and the duck yelled as they propelled backwards after the collision. Sora was then pressing his fingers gently against his nose, trying to give his poor organ some comfort after getting hit by such a hard surface. Donald, in the other hand, was certainly not pleased after the event, proved by how he had almost shot a shard of ice towards Sora while quacking a colorful trail of curse words towards him.

"It's about time our sleeping beauty woke up" Riku joked, as he ruffled Sora's spiky hair, making it messier than it already is. "You sure slept soundly; I thought a heartless was inside our tent!"

"You...!" Sora shouted in a playful manner, pouncing against his silver-haired friend in the process. They rolled on te ground, each trying to get the position atop of the other.

Though it was not long before they had ceased the action, considering it was something stupid. Sora and Riku then disassembled the tents; while Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey were packing the groups belonging. Even though the royal knight and magician had insisted for the King to lay down when they were packing, the mouse had insisted that he, too, should help them.

Kairi was not planning to spoil herself either; with the help of Donalds spell she was cooking whatever edible ingredients in Soras inventory into a soup.

After packing their belongings and a hearty meal, the group then looked up at the moon that resided atop of them; the artificial Kingdom Hearts that was made by the Organization. It gave off an ethereal yellow glow, with hues of purple emanating from where it had been damaged.

"Its going to end pretty soon..." Riku said, looking at the damaged Kingdom Hearts. "Xemnas... I mean, Xehanorts plans are finally coming into an end"

"And Im going to make sure its a bad end for him and a good end for us!" Sora summoned his Kingdom Key as he marched forward, climbing the flight of steps that divided the Altar of Naught apart of the rest of the Castle that Never was. "Come on, were wasting time!"  


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Well, I think that's about it for now XD to think of it, this thing has not even entered the storyline yet, more to a picture to link the Kingdom Hearts II Universe into that of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. That's quite irresponsible for me, I suppose XD

This story is written using Notepad++ and using HTML formal, so pardon the spelling! I'm kinda too lazy to go and hunt myself a Microsoft Office crack, so I used whatever material I have. Hence reason why I need a beta reader so desperately.

Hit that review button for more updates! And for another image...  
There will be friendship! I love that stuff.  
And cracks! Not too much, though...  
And... TvTropes references!

That's about it for now. catch ya later! XD 


	2. Darkness inside

Hi, I'm **back** with the second chapter of this story! XD Thank you for **Shoot my Tongue** for reviewing, it is much appreciated! Also my greatest of thanks for those who added this to their faves and/or alerts as well; **The Spirit Realm, Bella Faciata, Luna Moonsurf**, **Shoot My Tongue**, **GloomyMoogle** and **BlueRoseAngel061897**; you are my motivation for continuing this fic!

And ta-dah! If you are confused why I had put Vanitas as the part of this story, you are now going to get your wish (of explanation)! XD  


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_"And I'm going to make sure it's a bad end for him and a good end for us!" Sora summoned his Kingdom Key as he marched forward, climbing the flight of steps that divided the Altar of Naught apart of the rest of the Castle that Never was. "Come on, we're wasting time!"_  


* * *

** Second Chapter:  
Darkness Inside **

The group marched on towards the Altar of Naught, each brandishing their weapon in case of Heartless or Nobody attacks along the way. Quite surprisingly they had found none. This indicated that these Nobodies had been ordered for letting them climb upstairs with ease.

When they had arrived at the top, waiting for them was the all-too familiar figure: Xemnas. He stood still in the center of the platform, his gaze fixed to the damaged Kingdom Hearts, which was looming over the World that never was with its crippled glory.

"Warriors of the Keyblade..." He called, obviously noticing the entrance of the group. "There are still many heartlesses roaming in the worlds. Slay them, recreate the Kingdom Hearts for me" he turned towards the group, pointing towards the meant Keyblade wielders; Sora, Riku, and King Mickey.

**"Never!"** The three answered in unison, which was followed by three Keyblades- the Kingdom Key, the Way to the Dawn, and Kingdom Key 'D' pointed menacingly at the leader of Nobodies.

"I do _not_ understand; _why_ do the three of you seek to destroy the darkness?" Xemnas asked, his golden eyes piercing at the three Keyblade wielders. Sora and Riku were cooking up an answer within their minds when Mickey stepped forward, lowering his keyblade.

"The Darkness is kind of... scary, but we also can't live with either light or darkness missing, because Darkness is also half of everything" Mickey looked towards Xemnas with eyes filled with determination. "There is _no_ heart of either pure light or darkness; each heart has a piece of _both_ Light and Darkness, only one more dominant than the other."

"The reason we're here is not because we hate the darkness" Riku added. "Not because we had wanted the light to override the darkness. But it's your methods that have disrupted the balance"

"And for _that_, you're going down!" Sora finished, and flashed a grin at the Nobody. Then he charged forward, aiming to make the first hit.

"Sora!" Riku yelled, trying to prevent Sora from doing anything stupid before thinking about the consequences, but it was a futile effort as by the time the silver-haired boy had said this; the brunette was already in a less than a meter distance from his enemy.

The two fighters then made a face-off; but instead of the sound of metal clashing against one another, or either one of the battling sides crying in pain, a ball of magical force appeared, engulfing both fighters in a sphere of binary codes and crackles of electricity.

"That stupid moron!" Riku cursed, as he made a run to catch the other keyblade wielder. But by the time he had reached their position, the sphere had dissipated into thin air.  


* * *

  
Sora and Xemnas broke their contact once they were teleported into a part of the Dark City; an all-too-familiar environment etched in Sora's memory. Once he registered his surroundings into his brain, it was then he realized that he has not visited here; instead it was Roxas' memory that made the environment familiar to him.

"Feeling familiar, Roxas?" Xemnas asked, pointing one of his ethereal blades at the keyblade wielder.

"That's Sora for you!" Sora yelled, clearly being pissed as of how all the organization members were referring to him as Roxas. "And I clearly have no clue about where the hell is this place!"

Sora made a backwards flip as Xemnas charged forward, the Nobody's ethereal blade threatening to behead him. He then spun around, Kingdom Key in his right hand; Sora parried the incoming attack and pushed the weapon up for a counterattack. Both of them then leaped backwards from the impact.

Sora immediately took advantage of the situation and went for the offensive, hitting his enemy in quick and precise strikes in a hit-and-run style, he managed to evade the attacks the organization no. I had tried to land on him. Xemnas growled in frustration as yet another stroke of his ethereal blade missed its target.

"Out of fuel, are ya?" Sora taunted as he made a dodging roll below the threat of a horizontal swipe, ducking out of the harm's way. He then made a quick uppercut using his keyblade; locking weapons against the Nobody.

Sora didn't notice the smirk plastered on Xemnas' features before he realized that the Nobody had another blade inside the sleeve of his left arm, both blades jamming his weapon like the pincers of a crab.

"Oh, Crap!" Sora cursed inwardly, trying to think of a way to release his weapon from the blades. If he was to disengage it right now, surely the two blades would then go for his body; and there's no telling of what would happen next.

There was no need for Sora to think again, however, because soon after Xemnas had disappeared from his sight.

Three brownish-black orbs then emerged from the ground around him, and zapped him with a constant pulse of electricity. Sora tried to leap out of the way, but the orbs were so persistent at following him while letting the voltage course continuously over his body.

The chase with the orbs had brought Sora right in front of the solitary building in the unknown dimension, where the orbs had suddenly shattered themselves into tiny fragments before dissipating into thin air.

A chuckle was then heard. Not too loud, but very clear.

Immediately the brunette turned his head upwards, spotting his target right atop the building. Not wanting to wait any longer, Sora immediately ran towards the building, the centrifugal force the only thing that had ket him from falling to the ground. Xemnas, noticing this act, Let himself fall towards Sora.

As their distance closed in, Sora readied his keyblade for a strike against Xemnas. Xemnas smirked, and as they clashed, the white-haired man tugged at the Kingdom Key, making it fall with him with the help of gravitation.

Sora slid back into the ground, and attempted to summon his keyblade back to his hands. Surprisingly, he had failed, seeing how the Keyblade was still tightly gripped in the Nobody's hand.

Sora tried again and again, but to no avail; the Keyblade would not leave Xemnas' iron grip. He snarled with frustration. WHY? Why won't the Keyblade return to his hands?

"Damn it, Xemnas!" Sora yelled, sending a glare of daggers towards the white-haired Nobody. "What did you do?"

"I have done nothing" Xemnas replied flatly, eyeing the Keyblade with the curiosity of a child. "Oh, or did you forget, that the Keyblade is free to choose its master?"

Sora gulped as he remembered; he had his Keyblade taken once by Riku, and was not able to summon his weapon back to him until he had gained a new resolve. It was by no means a good memory; seeing how Donald and Goofy had also left him when Riku had claimed the Keyblade for himself.

"The Keyblade is the secret of opening one's heart..." Xemnas said as he walked closer, looking down at Sora as if he was a useless pest. "I have still one final use of you, now that you are devoid of your Keyblade..."

Sora scrambled and went for a run, but Xemnas immediately reappeared in front of Sora and knocked him down with a swift punch on the gut. Before the brunette had time to recover, the Nobody stepped on him; in fact, he pressed so hard that Sora could hear his fibula crack.

"I will be the one to personally extract your heart; and then you will be the one to complete my Kingdom Hearts!" Xemnas raised the robbed Kingdom Key high, before bringing it down swiftly to Sora's chest.

"Now give the darkness in your heart to the Kingdom Hearts...!"  


* * *

  
"Donald, have you managed to track him down?" Kairi asked in panic; hoping for the magician to provide her with a satisfying answer.

Meanwhile, Donald's eyes were shut tight as an indicator of his focus, his feathers wetting as droplets of sweat ran on the surface of his skin.

"Argh, nope..." Donald said, shaking his head. It had been half an hour since Sora had recklessly charged towards Xemnas and they had disappeared right before the spell-caster's eyes. Since then, Donald and Riku had been taking turns between swallowing ethers and trying to track the two of them down using magic. "I can't sense Sora anywhere in this world"

"Alternate Dimension, I'd say" Mickey kicked in the conversation when he had heard of Donald's statement. "Sora's most possibly trapped in an alternate dimension, made by Xemnas"

Not long after Mickey had said that, the exact same sphere of magic that had swallowed Sora and Xemnas had reappeared in front of the group.

Riku and Mickey immediately made a sharp turn, both of them staring at the sphere, weary of the results of the battle.

When the magical contraption had finally disappeared, all of them were put in a state of shock.

When the magical contraption had finally disappeared, all of them were put in a state of shock.

Sora had been lying on the white floor, blood slowly staining both his shirt and his skin from where the Kingdom Key had pierced through his ribcage. Obviously he was unconscious, as he was not groaning from pain as most people would act when something if the similar amplitude happened to them.

Xemnas was groaning and choking in suffocation and pain, a keyblade also piercing his body and he was suspended in the air, when a mysterious figure forced an iron grip on his neck.

The mysterious figure was no taller than Sora himself, with a helmet covering the whole of his face. His body was all covered in black, lines tracing where his muscles are positioned. A couple of red belts were circling his hips, from where a ragged, holed blue cloth embroidered with red hung freely. He also wore metal boots that reached his knee.

Donald, Goofy and Mickey couldn't help but notice something uncannily familiar about this mysterious figure. However, from the whole of the group, Riku had remembered the most about his appearance.

"Geez, he's absolutely not creative, if you'd ask me" the silver-haired boy retorted, memories from approximately two years ago still freshly printed in his mind.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy can't help but nod at this statement. They looked back at the scene, and noticed that the keyblade was the only one unusual to their eyes. It was mostly black and red, the same hue as the figure's body, with black edges shaped like gears, and a gem colored a piercing turquoise resting at the center of the gear, staring as if it was actually a living eye.

Mickey had practically jumped and gasped at the same time when he had seen the Keyblade. "Uh pals, I think we're in a deep trouble... that's _Vanitas_!"

"What? _Vanilla_?" the others asked, almost in a complete unison. The thought that had entered their mind almost immediately was... _Wasn't that an ice-cream flavor?'_

"No..." Mickey put his palm in front of his eyes, shaking his head as he did so. The mouse then again regained his focus. "Vanitas was an enemy that I fought long ago, when I was still training under the guidance of Master Yen Sid,"

"Oh, someone who actually _knows_ about me" The figure, Vanitas, turned his head to stare at Mickey from within his helmet. "You're that pipsqueak mouse who make friends with those fools, aren't you? Seems you haven't grown one bit, and still making friends with fools"

Riku gritted his teeth, silently resisting the urge to slam at his helmet with his fists. Instead he immediately went after Sora together with Kairi, pulling the Kingdom Key that was resting on his chest like the Excalibur.

"Why are you free; and why are you **here**, of all places?" Mickey said; his usually cheery voice deep with venom. His eyes narrowing and his right hand gripped tightly at the Kingdom Key D'.

"Why, this idiot had just released me from the prison I was kept in" Vanitas answered, not intimidated by the Keyblade master even just a bit. He looked at the writhing Nobody he was choking; Xemnas. In a swift movement he dropped the man as if he weighted like a feather and slammed him into the floor. He then pulled the keyblade back, letting blood to flow freely from the barely conscious body; and then stabbed the weapon again, this time towards his stomach. The Nobody lurched into an upwards arc from the impact, his eyes wide open from the immense suffering.

"And like before, I seek to recreate the Keyblade War..." Vanitas said, amused. He again took the keyblade resting on the abdomen of the white-haired figure. "Only this time it will not be for the master, seeing how he is as well as **dead**."

As if emphasizing the last word, he again stabbed the weapon against Xemnas, this time aiming for his neck. It was done with the utmost of ease, and soon; the Nobody was dead. Vanitas watched in glee as the creature turned into monochrome spines and thorns, spinning around in the air before returning into the nothingness it once was.

Then Vanitas turned to Sora.

"He's too broken to be of use as of now" Vanitas said, displeasure sewn all over his words. "Maybe a little tour would do him good..." In a flick of his hands, a dark corridor was created. Sora immediately fell with the help of gravitation, while Riku stared, too enthralled and shocked to act. Kairi gasped in horror as her best friend was swallowed in the deep abyss; and then she screamed.

"Vanitas! You!" Mickey shouted, facing towards the mysterious figure only to find him gone, leaving a trace of the similar dark corridor. "...Damn!"

"I'm going in" Riku said, seeing how the corridor was still open, though decreasing in size. "Kairi, stay here until we come back." He looked towards the other teen with concern.

"No, I'm coming as well!" Kairi said. "I can take care of myself; I can even wield a Keyblade by now!" her blue eyes were burning with determination. It was obvious that she would not let herself being the only one left again.

Riku heaved a sigh. "Fine... no other choice, then..."

Before Kairi could say anything a swift blow had just landed on her gut, making her topple backwards after losing her very balance. In a quick reaction Donald and Goofy almost instinctively reached out to her, preventing her from falling towards the floor.

"I trust you'll take care of it, Mickey!" Riku said as he waved at the four, jumping to the hole that embedded itself on the surface, before it had shrunk into an unoccupiable size.

The mouse king nodded, approving the request of his best friend. "I will" he watched Riku dissapear from the place, following where Sora had dissapeared. God knows where were they going, but his heart had assured him that the silver-haired boy would be okay.

When Kairi had regained her composure, she immediately ran towards where the inter-dimensional corridor was placed. However, the only thing she saw was a disappearing dot of black.

Tears welled up the girl's eyes. She was left, again. Her friends are the ones facing dangers and she was like the helpless girl who needs to be saved every time.

"Stupid...!" She yelled into the nothingness that surrounded her. "You guys are the stupidest bunch I've ever seen!"

"But... I'm the stupider one... for wanting to become friends with you..."  


* * *

  
A/N: LOL yes! **VANILLA!** bet you didn't see that coming. And I wonder if you had been wondering why had I kept the keyblade as Kingdom Key? It's for the sake of canon (lie), and also for the sake of the plot itself.  
If you are trying to sue me on Kairi, worry not, she WILL be involved! I hate damsels in distress, and I'm not going to let Kairi become one. (Now that she HAS a keyblade...)  
If you would be so kind, please drop a review for this story! I'm patiently waiting...^^ 


	3. Confining the Light

Hi, I'm back again with the third chapter of this fan-fiction! this thing is coming along quite nicely (in my opinion) and thanks a whole lot for **Rith** and **Talesfangirl** for reviewing; also for **NexarkXIII, Vampire Countess,** and also **KHM- TheFallenKeyblader** for adding this story to their favorites and/or alerts list!  


* * *

** Chapter 3  
Confining the Light**

* * *

  
_'Light and Darkness are both important, as nobody can live with either of them lost'_

A teenaged, blue-haired girl stood before the massive darkness that lied before her. Nothing was in sight- it was only the stones, the dead trees, and the endless sea, lit by a single, solitary moon.

On her right hand was a star-shaped ornament, embroidered by a white, brilliant metal and a semi-transparent layer of blue-colored glass. She opened her hand, stared at the meant item, and then closed it again, gripping the Wayfinder tightly.

_'In the Realm of Light, the Darkness lurks in the corner. In the Realm of Darkness, light shines in the most unimaginable places'_

"Terra, Ven..." the girl muttered, looking endearingly at the article. "I... I think it's been a very long time, I wonder how have you been doing... can you hear me?"

Of course, nobody had answered her. It would even be suspicious if somebody had actually answered to that question; because there is nobody living in the Realm of Darkness.

Well, except a lot of Pure-blood Heartless roaming in the every nook and cranny...

And would you really _expect_ a heartless to be able to answer your question? Consider that and think again.

Suddenly, a hole opened in the sky, emanating the bright light from the realm of light. The girl used her white sleeves to cover her eyes from the light; it was far too bright for her eyes to bear.

Not long after, two figures had fallen from the hole, flinging towards the open sea.

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

A splashing sound could be heard as the first figure touched the aqueous surface, followed suit by the second one also diving into the deep sea. Droplets of water flew everywhere, reacting to the impact the fall had just resulted in.

The girl immediately stood up, her shocked gaze glued to a point in the sea where the mysterious bodies had splashed into.

'What had just happened?' Her mind couldn't help but to wonder. She felt the urge to be a hero and dive in the sea to save them. But, part of her instincts that had helped her survive for her time in the realm of darkness had told her not to do such a stupid act and instead was pushing her to make a run for it.

Or better yet, to rid the threat from her... _by eliminating meant threat._

"Yes, that might prove to be a good idea, if that person's indeed hostile," the girl said, agreeing with her mind.

So she decided to wait, until after about fifteen second the form emerged from the sea; silvery hair soaked by the salty waters of the sea was what she saw first, followed by the young boy, about her age, swimming desperately towards the shore while at the same time dragging another, but this time unconscious boy on his shoulder.

The silver-haired boy seemed exhausted, judging by how he would gasp for air every once and then, and by how slowly he was actually progressing to close his distance into the shallow seas. Actually, they had fallen into the deeper parts of the sea, which was... about seventy meters far form the actually shallow parts of the sea.

Aqua had to yet again resist her temptation to jump to the scene and help people she doesn't even know.  


* * *

  
_(Switch to Riku and Sora's point of view!)_

Riku gasped for a long-awaited breath of air as he continued on struggling his way through the sea. The fact that his surroundings were covered in black didn't help at all, as it only made him even more nervous of his surroundings. Their distance from the shore was rather far, but hopefully he would be able to reach the shallow parts of the sea soon enough.

The silver-haired boy dove again, hoping to lighten Sora's weight from inflicting too much pressure from his shoulder with the help of the seawater. This had proved true, but the boy also feared if he water would invade Sora's respiration system and cues into thing even more undesirable. Such as him choking on saltwater or something else, for example...

Slowly but surely, Riku could spot the shorelines ahead of him. He forced his muscles to move, although the chilly seawater was piercing into his skin and clothes, all while keeping a soft but steady grip on Sora's body.

At long last, they had arrived. Without waiting any longer, Riku immediately opened Sora's vest and shirt, hoping nothing bad had actually happened to the poor brunette. Of course this was proven to be really **wrong** as a keyhole-shaped wound had took place on Sora's chest, with his blood oozing out and small wisps of white flowing from inside the wound.

Riku gulped down the air he was supposed to breathe on. No, this was **not** good at all, in any sense of logic. He scrambled through Sora's pouch, trying to find any recovery item he had kept for himself. Fortunately enough, he had managed to found several hi-potions and some ether.

Carefully, the silver-haired boy opened the container of the liquid, letting it flow into the injury. The mint-green substance glowed as it made contact with the wound, closing it little by little. That obviously still won't repair the bone, but stopping the hemorrhaging was the main idea in Riku's mind by now.

The wound soon had stopped from bleeding, but a strange hole with the shape of a keyhole still rested there, and it was also still persistent at emanating the white wisps. Riku made another drop of potion fall from the bottle, but it still won't mend the remaining areas.

"Damn!" Riku cursed, slamming his clenched fist on the sand. "Now what should I do with him in this condition?" he was about to give in when...

"Wounded body, return anew; _Curaga_!" he heard somebody chant the magic spell. When he turned into the brunette, he saw illusionary forms of a blooming lotus and several four-leaved clover; the obvious trademark of the Curaga spell. The flesh slowly mended itself, leaving but an outline of the keyhole-shaped wound...

And the white wisps; still flowing from the edges of the wound.

Riku looked around to see whoever had casted the spell. Sora was out of the question, as well as himself. Seeing as this is the Realm of Darkness, as what Riku's brain managed to conclude, nobody should be inside except tons and tons of heartless.

And obviously... _no pureblood heartless knows how to cast Curaga._

"Who's there?" He questioned, almost violently. He was undoubtedly weary about whatever the person casting Curaga might be up to.

A girl, maybe about Riku's age or older by a bit, stepped out form behind the stone where she once stood. Her blue eyes and hair were complimented with matching blue clothes, with a white ribbon draping over the sides. On her right hand was a keyblade, colored white and gray, when her left hand was still glowing with the energy from the spell she had just invoked.

Riku's expression softened a bit; and a light tint of red had made its way to his cheeks without him knowing it. "I... uh..." he stuttered a bit, obviously not expecting a girl his age to appear in front of him in such a place. _Especially with such a nice body as hers..._ ugh! _'No, Riku. Resist temptation.'_ The silver-haired boy kept telling himself that. But his eyes strayed towards her anyway. When his gaze met with the sight of her breasts, He immediately turned his head away, hues of red invading his face. "...Sorry, I didn't mean any of that"

"None taken" She replied with a smile. Then, she looked at the unconscious Sora, curious about the injury. When she saw it, she almost gasped, and began to shake her head. "This... I have never seen this before... as if the light inside him is escaping from his body..."

The girl then turned to Riku, her eyes chucked full with concern. "He... what had happened to him?" she asked. Her hands were over the wound, as if trying to prevent more light from escaping.

Riku hesitated a bit, not being sure whether he should really tell this unknown girl the cause or not. After a short battle against his own mind, in which he actually lost, the silver-haired boy heaved a heavy sigh. "He... was stabbed. With a keyblade at that"

The girl's eyes had suddenly widened. Riku eyed her suspiciously; it was as if she had experience with a similar case beforehand. She returned the gaze, and asked her, in almost a violent manner. "How could that happen? Did a Keyblade wielder harm him?" She shook Riku's shoulder's back and forth, demanding an answer from him. Then, she immediately released it, and turned away, embarrassment printed on her face. "I... I'm sorry, I went too far"

"None taken" Riku returned the phrase that the girl had told him before. "Anyway... do you know what's happening to him?"

The girl stroked her chin softly, looking at the wisps of white flowing out from the keyhole-shaped outline of the wound. "I can't say much... but the light inside him is slowly fading away. I also can't sense any darkness in him..." Sora was in a state of deep sleep, as nudging, pinching or even shaking him would not wake him up. "His balance is ruined; he's not going to hold out much longer"

"So, you're saying that..." Riku said, trying to digest what the mysterious girl had just said to him. "If this darkness goes back to him, he'll be saved, right?"

"I can't guarantee anything, but theoretically, yes" when the girl shifted her gaze from Sora to Riku, the silver-haired adolescent already had an aura of black surrounding him. He focused the aura into forming a black sphere on his right hand, with its inside glowing with a pale blue light.

The girl almost gulped at the display of the power of darkness, and she had instinctively summoned her Keyblade out of fear. She could feel her hair standing out on its end, as an intimidating aura spilled out of the seemingly innocent boy. And the fact that he was also dressed in light color only managed to add to the surprise.

"Well, we might as well just test the theory out, right?" Riku asked, his mind totally focused on keeping the aura in control droplets of sweat began to trail over his skin. "Happens that I have quite an affinity with it"

"Hey, I said I don't have any guarantee about what might happen if you did that!" The girl yelled, trying to stop the boy from doing the risky action. But it was too late. Riku had pressed his right palm against Sora's chest letting the dark aura seep inside him.

The girl only looked at him, startled and dumbfounded. "Fine, have it your way, but I'm not the one to be held responsible" she said, staring at Riku's turquoise eyes. She had hoped for a moment that her doing that would stop him from doing such an act.

"Fine by me" the boy retorted, trying his best to not let the darkness go wild inside the brunette's body. The wisps of white are now in contact with the wisps of black that Riku sent, neutralizing each other and entering the unconscious body of Sora's.

Riku increased his concentration, his muscular build tightening up as he pressed the ball of darkness harder against his friend's skin. The darkness began to fade in his body, as if filling the void that was present inside him. When the process was finished, Riku was a lot more than just exhausted. He was panting heavily, a result of channeling most of his energy towards that one attempt.

"...**Phew**," Riku finally said after managing to catch his own breath. "I think that went well" he flexed his arms and laid on the shorelines, letting the waves wash over his feet.

The blue-haired girl looked on the unconscious body, and noticed that it had actually gone well. There were no signs of either darkness of light spilling out of his body anymore... all that's left was to see if the brunette would wake up or not.

"I never saw anyone go to such lengths to save their friends... except one," the blue-haired girl said, trying to hold a laugh.

"Oh?" Riku asked, "And who might that idiot be?"

"...Terra,"

Riku suddenly felt his heart thumping harder than before, as if it was responding to the name. He decided to just dismiss the awkward feeling for now, and then he would deal with it when he had the time.

"Interesting name," Riku told her instead. "But... never heard of it"

"Figures," she answered. "Hey, what's your name? My name is Aqua" She turned her head to face the silver-haired boy, who was enjoying the cold wind that was blowing against his face.

"Me? I'm Riku" he replied, smiling.  


* * *

  
In the Disney Castle, King Mickey was inside the audience room, conversing with the Queen when Kairi, Donald and Goofy was ordered to wait at the library; where Daisy had been trying to yell Donald's hearing nerves off, Goofy laughing at the couple and Kairi trying to create peace between the two.

"I'm sorry, Daisy; I'm so sorry!" Donald begged; his magician hat put in front of his bill in order to defend himself from the yelling of the lady duck.

"This is unforgivable, Donald; I have been waiting for more than just a month since you said that you would be home soon! Your nephews are gone with your uncle to Radiant Garden, and I'm left here; all alone! Don't you know of a girl's feeling, to dare leaving her alone in this castle?"

"Look Daisy... I'm..." the poor duck tries to answer.

"No more buts!" Daisy beamed.

"Woof!" Pluto barked in glee.

"Hey, cut it off, you two!" Kairi tried to break the one sided fight in a futile effort. Sometimes- Royalties are just weird.

"Kairi! Kairi!" a squeaky voice called, followed by a dark brown chipmunk scurrying towards her. "The King wishes to meet you!"

"Thank you, Chip," Kairi answered as she nodded, making her way towards the audience room.  


* * *

  
When she had arrived in front of the majestic door, she couldn't help but to think how big the castle was.

But her mind was cut short as Chip entered through a doorway much suited for his miniature size, embedded on the large door. A preferably larger door; just about the right size for Kairi was also present; making her wonder about the true purpose of having such a large door.

Entering the Audience Room; Kairi found out that it was no less majestic than the door. It was about three-fourth the size of a full soccer field with white walls and white floor, and a red carpet leading to the throne on the end of the room. Mickey stood precisely in the center of the room, his keyblade summoned.

"I have brought Kairi here, your Highness," Chip said and saluted before the mouse king.

"Thank you ever so much, Chip. Now you are dismissed" Mickey said, before the Chipmunk saluted again and walked his way through the same door from which he had entered from.

"Ah, Kairi; do you know why I had summoned you here?" Mickey asked; his high-pitched voice filled with the charisma of a king but also an overwhelming kindness. "There is something I wanted to talk to you..."

"Yes, your majesty?"

"This might be selfish of me, but I want you to train under me- to become a Keyblade Master" Mickey turned, his back now facing Kairi. "I promised Riku that I will take care of things on my side, but I figured out you also need to be stronger. The ways of being a Keyblade Master is far from easy; many arduous tasks lie ahead of you. Are you ready?"

Kairi's eyes lightened up at the statement, and then she kneeled down before the King.

"With pleasure, your majesty"

"Then..." Mickey turned again to her, raising his Keyblade. "I, Mickey, shall approve Kairi from Destiny Islands to be my pupil; henceforth you shall live here in the Disney Castle, you will have to leave your days in your home world, until the day you are approved as a Master,"

* * *

**A/N:** Anybody remembering about how I said about not leaving Kairi alone? Well, now you know what it means!  
If you don't understand why Aqua is in the Realm of Darkness, it means you haven't watched the final ending of the story! Well, I watched it in TalesFangirl's PSP (which is about... yesterday! XD)  
Comments, complains, suggestions? Send it via Review or PM! X3 or you can also personally e-mail me :D 


	4. Reminiscence

**Author's Note:** Chapter four done in another two days! I seriously can't believe that I cooked up every single chapter in two days... XD I think that was a great achievement, all things considered! I still have to say my biggest thank you to the reviewers, **Shoot My Tongue, roxy mccartney, Rith,** and **Kittygirl1998**; and also the ones that added the story to their alerts/favorites list: **AnimeCat92** and **roxy mccartney**! the thanks goes to all of you! :D  


* * *

  
A desolate place filled with rocks and sand. The unbearably rough wind blew through, brushing some of the sand aside. Through the path inside the barren land, located between two plateaus, a masked figure in black, red and blue outfit walked past.

Vanitas.

Upon reaching the end of the path, he soon met his destination. It was a field, full with weapons embedded to the land as if it was part of the land itself. The wind rang as it flows through the numerous holes of the handles and blades of the weapons which laid on the earth's surface. Each weapon were rusted and decayed; as if crying together with the lost souls of their fallen wielders.

The land held the history of the world; it was the land when many battled for the light that resides upon all. They had fought for the light of hope, the light of creation, the light of destruction; all in one fatal war.

This land is where souls of the fallen wielders of the mighty ancient weapon resides; as a result of the grand war.

This place is... the Keyblade graveyard.

Needless to say, the place had an ill feeling to it. But Vanitas was not in any way bothered by that. In fact, it had proved amusing inside his mind; of how foolish the former Keyblade wielders had been to end up sacrificing themselves in a meaningless war; ending with the darkness covering all worlds.

His master once sought to recreate the Keyblade War in order to see how the world would return from the darkness.

In order to do that, the X-blade was a necessity. Being the ultimate form of the Keyblade itself, the X-blade is able to open doors to multiple worlds at once, with an utmost ease. The plan was simple; to open the way to Kingdom Hearts, open the doorway to all worlds, and watch as Keyblade wielders fight upon themselves in fight over the power of the Kingdom Hearts, to the point that they destroy themselves and doom the world into darkness.

However, Vanitas actually had different visions. He, who was born of darkness, obviously didn't care about the world healing itself after being plunged into the darkness. Different visions, different paths, different goal, yet the same way to obtain it...

The X-blade is a determining factor to achieve his goal.

And Vanitas had been playing fake loyalty since he was born in order to achieve that goal.

Stepping further to the fields where the abandoned Keyblades lie, he walked towards the higher end of the plateau, where no Keyblades rest. It was a level terrain, where a hollow armor knelt down while holding a big keyblade of its own.

When the being of darkness had reached the very center of the raised ground, the armor moved on its own, driven by an unknown force. It stood up, and then pointed its weapon at Vanitas.

"Challenging me into a battle?" he asked, for the suit to voicelessly nod. Vanitas drew his own weapon and charged against it, yelling:

"I hope you prove a good sparring match!"  


* * *

  
"My name's Riku"

Aqua almost gasped when she heard of this. She knew something was familiar about this boy and also the other one; but she didn't expect to meet the two boys she used to talk to in the Destiny Islands.

Especially to find one of them to be a wielder of the darkness, and the other had the darkness ripped away cleanly from him. It was just like when she was with Terra and Ven; in fact, it was almost the exact same case.

Though; she was hoping silently that the two would not end the same fate as Terra and Ven did. She had felt that she had jinxed their fate back then in the Destiny Islands, when she had said that Riku was as sincere as Terra and Sora being the striking image of Ven.

Look at what they had become. They had become exactly as Terra and Ven were.

"Hey" a voice pushed her from her mental lamenting and back into the reality of life. "What's about my name? You're putting on a strange face"

"This?" Aqua was embarrassed about her display of weakness, and immediately turned her face away from the silver-haired boy,. "Ah... it's nothing. Please forgive my rudeness"

"..." Riku turned his gaze back into the unending ocean. "Fine, if you say it that way"

Riku had actually enjoyed the sight of the ocean. It was the unending ocean, the same one as the one he had dreamed to venture as a child. The same one that he thought was preventing him from seeing the outside worlds.

Nobody had believed Riku when he had told people how other worlds exist when he was a child. Nobody would, except Sora and Kairi. Sora, being the kind-hearted boy he is, had always believed every single word he said. Kairi herself had said that she had come from another world, in which account her guardians shook their heads and people around her thought that she was telling childish lies and fantasies.

How did he end up believing in other worlds, anyway? His mind drifted back to the past as a child, when he was still living in the Destiny Islands...  


* * *

  
"Now look up, child, do you see the stars?" an old man asked, sitting beside a small boy, about the age of five. The old man pointed at the cobalt blue sky, decorated by the many stars glowing like colorful jewels.

"Uh... yeah," the boy answered, blinking his turquoise blue eyes as he also looked at the stars with him.

"Do you know, child, what are actually the stars?"

The young Riku looked at the old man, expression turning a bit skeptical. "Teachers in the school always said that the stars are balls of energy glowing in the sky," he answered.

The old man smiled at the answer Riku had gave him.

"Do you know- that each star glowing in the sky is actually a world on its own?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Riku was getting confused with the old man's seemingly pointless talk. "My mother said that other worlds only exist in fairy tales. So does everyone else I know. You're the first one to say that they actually exist,"

"You're an interesting child; Riku," he said, "But I do not intend to tell you lies, whether you will find out or not it solely depends on you..." the old man pointed at his face, then down to his chest. "And your heart"  


* * *

  
Riku had no clue who was that old man. He doesn't even remember his appearance or how exactly his voice sounded like. But that old man was who made him believe in the existence of the other worlds. Since then, he had been longing to be able to see those worlds.

In the end, they made the raft, the Highwind, and in the day when the raft was finished, they long journey had began.

How he had wished to come back and shout to everyone else that he was right and they were wrong.

But then he had plunged himself into the darkness; he had almost been a helpless case of a human giving himself into the darkness of his own free will. Then he met Mickey; the Mouse King, and a master of the Keyblade. He had taught him so much; from how he shouldn't give in to the darkness to honing the mastery of his Keyblade.

He had found himself in the Realm of Darkness again, but this time with a friend and a resolve.

He would not be lost to the Realm of Darkness. They would get out of here; and then he would make sure that he kicks the masked jerk's ass for good.

When Riku had finished thinking, he found himself back into the silence that occupied the Realm of Darkness. Nothing made a sound on his ears except the rolling waves, and the sound of breathing that he, Aqua, and Sora made.

"Can you tell me," Aqua finally spoke after a minute of the deathly silence. "How did you end up falling from the sky into the Realm of Darkness? Moreover, you didn't seem surprised at all; usually people who get here all of a sudden instantly freaked out and are either eaten by the Heartless or went insane," she picked up a tiny stone, and threw it into the water, letting the stone bounce a few times before sinking into the coast.

Riku was a bit surprised, but decided to ignore the feeling. "What, did I get myself a fan to watch my every action with an amazing analysis placed behind it?" he asked, mimicking the same action as she did, only this time throwing the stone a little bit farther than she did.

Aqua stifled a giggle at this statement. "No, of course not... I was just guessing; maybe you did get here before,"

"I could've asked the same to you... you said most people would freak out and get insane, or get eaten by a heartless; you didn't"

"It's..." Aqua found herself thinking to give him the answer. "The first reason; I have this,"

The blue-haired girl raised her hand, as if grasping for something. Then in a flash of light, a Keyblade of white and gray materialized in her hand. She gripped the handle of the blade gently, showing Riku the weapon. He gasped in a slight awe, but then chuckled.

"A Keyblade- I should've guessed that; the other reason?"

"I guess it's because I entered this realm voluntarily; to save my friend, it was a method necessary" she answered, dismissing her Keyblade into a flash of light that then disappeared from sight. "When you have no regrets of doing something, what happens after you do it will most likely not affect your mental"

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it. Now that I told you my reasons, it's your turn to tell me yours"

"Fine... it's not that different, really; the voluntary thing and stuff" Riku finally said. "But I'd rather not talk about it as it gives me the chills,"

"That didn't really help, you know" the girl retorted while Riku had a smile plastered wide on his face. "But... you have privacy as everybody does. I won't disturb that"

A growling sound was heard behind them as a flock of shadow heartlesses appeared; with their gleaming eyes focused on the unconscious body a.k.a. Sora as if it was a delicious treat after a long period of fasting.

"Whoops, I completely forgot that the Realm of Darkness has its fair share of Heartless" Riku said, obviously lying when he had said about forgetting the Heartless. In fact, his fingers were tingling for the action he had anticipated when they took off to fight Xemnas.

Riku was ready to summon his Keyblade...

But Aqua was immediately standing in the center of the mob of Heartless without Riku knowing it. She quickly casted Magnega, which drew all the unknowing shadows in one big spiral of glowing red and blue balls, and finally struck all the mobs down in one fell swoop with a well-aimed Thundaga.

Wow, talk about not wasting any time. She sure had made a very efficient use of her magic; not a trick everyone would think of. But the fact that she had completely stolen his time to get into action and relieve the stress on his muscles was upsetting him.

It was as if the girl was purposefully showing off her magnificent abilities.

"One day I'll get her, because she's being rude to my pride" Riku told himself that. Not long after, A groan was heard from where Sora was resting. The silver-haired boy decided to ignore Aqua for a brief moment and tended over the brunette.

Sora was waking up, and it had meant he had succeeded. The silver-haired adolescent felt an urge to throw a smirk against Aqua, but he chose against it. Instead, he made a mental note that he had scored a 1-0 against her.  


* * *

  
Sora was again on the mysterious platform that had appeared before him when he had spoken with the so-called Ven.

The brunette walked over to the center of the platform, looking for any signs of the blond anywhere. And he saw practically nothing, only the colored glass that spread through all that lies below him.

And he found that half of it was replaced with a black and blue, instead of its original color.

"W- What's this?" Sora almost jumped in shock as he saw what was supposed to be part of his heart replaced with another piece.

"Your heart had been fractured, Sora" came the voice from behind him. Sora turned around to see Ven, but the blond was... different. He looked exhausted and somewhat sad. "And your friend used his power to save you, but it won't last for too long before your heart began crumbling apart again"

"And why is my heart fractured?"

"When you were stabbed by the Keyblade, my other half Vanitas came out and took the darkness of your heart" Ven explained. "Vanitas needs the darkness to form itself, and so it took what there is from its vessel, which was you"

"So... you can say that's he's the Heartless of both you and me?" Sora tried to pull a hypothesis from the information Ven had given him. Ven nodded.

"Worse yet; he's the first Heartless to be created from the heart of a human" the blond added. "When the darkness was stolen from you, you fell into a coma. That friend of yours made a bet and infused the power of darkness into you, just to make sure you live on. I'm sorry... I've caused trouble, didn't I?"

"H-hey; don't suddenly apologize to me like that..." Sora panicked when Ventus started apologizing. "Sure, I'm kind of... shocked with this Vanitas thing and all, but that's not a reason to hate you at all!"

"Well, if you say so..." Ven said, stopping his apologizing rant. "Oh, by the way, if you happen to meet a blue-haired girl named Aqua, be sure to tell her I said 'hi', OK?"

"Yeah, sure thing I will!" Sora gave him a 'hands-up' before the blond disappeared and the surrounding became white.

"It's time to wake up, now..."  


* * *

  
A/N: Well, chapter 4 done, and we'll see if anyone of you have any pairing ideas! That Riku and Aqua from last chapter was my joke, as you can see, as in this chapter they had developed a competitive spirit against each other- they are unofficially rivals; not lovers! So, considering the characters that have appeared, do you have any suggestions about who should go out with who? Because I seriously can't choose! DX

Please drop a review, because the ideas feed on those :D 


	5. Apprentice

**A/N:**, well, some difficulty handling the HTML format... again. please forgive me and enjoy this chapter, this time for real.

Well, for reasons hard to explain (a.k.a. I screwed some standard theories up) I think this fanfic is now officially AU. I understand the fact, but I will still try to make this sound as logic as possible. Oh, and did somebody noticed that I had changed my username? I need that to get a more neutral impression with the readers. Why? because some Mary-Sue authors and some crazy self-inserting ones have the same username-style as me, so I thought I'd best get away as much as possible...

Okay, I was making that up. I just like my new Pen Name.All 'Thank You' still go to the reviewers, who are **Kittygirl1998, Rith, Talesfangirl** and **Shotlock**, who gave me inspirations about how I should turn this story to, both directly and indirectly. and the motivators are those who added this story to their alerts, **Blue. Eyes. White. Dragon. 3000**. Thank you all! and hereby I celebrate the fact that this fanfic had reached its tenth review and more than 500 hits!

This chapter is kinda light-hearted, as the chapter before it. But there's a little bit of action scene which is thankfully lampshaded, and spiced with several commentary lines from our beloved protagonists. Enjoy!  


* * *

  
"Here goes nothing!" Kairi exclaimed as a flash of light surrounded her hand. The red-haired girl focuse her gaze at the growing ball of light. It swirled around, elongated into the shape of a stick... before disappearing into the air as if it was nothing. Kairi ket out a sigh and hung her head down in dissapointment.

"Kairi, try to focus!" Mickey said, he walked towards the red-headed girl and poked her with his own keyblade. "Imagine that Keyblade in front of you. Come on, you can do it"

Kairi, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy were gathered in the castle's garden in terms of Kairi's training of the Keyblade wielding. Kairi was standing in the center if the garden, learning how to summon the Keyblade properly.

'_Sora and Riku had done it with such ease, so wouldn't it be easy to do?_' Kairi had thought before thay had begun with the training. _Oh, how wrong she was._

She never thought it would be so hard. Mickey kept her standing there, until she was able to do the first thing she needed to do before training with a Keyblade- to summon the Keyblade before anything else.

Kairi nodded, sweating profusely. Even just to try to summon her Keyblade had cost her a lot of energy. She closed the lid of her eyes once again and tried focusing hard enough to imagine the Keyblade she once wielded in The World That Never was. The tangerine-hued hilt, the flower-shaped blade, and the waves of the blue sea adorning it handle was what made the Keyblade unique compared to the others.

Donald and Goofy were sitting on one of the benches, watching the young girl try so hard. Maybe the difficulty was not on Kairi alone; but Sora and Riku were already proficient in wielding the Keyblade when they had first appeared.

When Kairi opened her eyes, another flash of light formed around her right hand like it did before. However, this one was much brighter than before, and it didn't just disappear into nothingness. Instead, it died down into Kairi's Keyblade- the Destiny's Embrace.

"I... I did it!" Kairi exclaimed in glee, currently in awe with the weapon she had summoned after trying so hard. "I summoned the Keyblade!"

"Sure you did..." Mickey said, "But the training is still far from over. Now you have to get more familiar with it. Goofy, if you would." He signaled for the Royal Knight to come.

Goofy immediately stood up to heed the King's command, and prepared his shield. But Mickey took a wooden shield with a bull's eye mark on it, and ordered Goofy to switch his shield with the wooden one.

It didn't take long before Goofy was holding a big, wooden shield with a bull's eye mark, and King Mickey standing between him and Kairi.

"Now Kairi, I want you to practice attacking the bull's eye. If you have any difficulty with the weapon, Goofy would be able to assist you, so will Donald," the mouse king said. "I will pardon myself for a moment, and please, do not hesitate to continue". And with that, Mickey left the three to train.

With that as a cue, Kairi had started placing rather shabby hits at the bull's eye. Goofy looked at the girl with worry, but decided to stay put as nothing he did would be able to help her improve at all except assisting her with her training. If there is something that Kairi lacked the most in her attacks, it would be of her power.

Mickey watched in concern at the three as they took turns sparring against each other. It would seem that Kairi had little experience with handling a weapon, unlike Sora and Riku who were quite proficient at using weapons. Even Donald's attacks almost incapacitated her, and he would cast Cura every now and then to keep her in shape for the he was thinking about those things, he didn't realize that from behind, Minnie had approached him.

"Gosh Minnie, you scared me," Mickey said, turning into his wife, who giggled at his surprise. Minnie then stood beside him "So, how do you think of her- I mean, Kairi?"

"Hmm... I'm not very certain yet, Mickey" she answered, her eyes carefully watching Kairi's movements. "Her fighting style resembled that of someone I've met before... ah! I think her name was... Oh, I think I forgot"

"Strange thing is... she had difficulty even just summoning her Keyblade. He One should not have difficulty except..." Mickey muttered to himself, walking in circles as he thought. Minnie gazed at him with a look of concern plastered at her face.

"...She had not yet experienced the Awakening"  


* * *

** Chapter 5  
Apprentices **

* * *

  
Sora's eyes opened slowly, as if waking from a thousand years slumber. The first thing he caught in his eyes were how the environment was so dark, and Riku kneeling before him, eyes almost as if lit up with glee.

This reminded him of some pose he'd see in some movie...

"Holy Crap!" Sora shouted, jolting up and head-butting his poor friend in the process. Then he turned to Riku. "You didn't just kiss me to wake me up, did you?" he asked; full of anxiety and a little bit of disgust. His eyes twitched a little bit, and his hands were shaking form the horror of the thought alone.

"And HOW did you get that idea?" Riku shouted back angrily, nursing his nose which had fallen victim to Sora's skull. "I'm **not** gay; I'm straighter than your hair!"

"Well, Aurora and Snow white were woken up from their sleep THAT way..." Sora argued, his volume gradually diminishing as he realized how stupid his thoughts were. "Oh, sorry, I feel stupid," he finally said, rubbing his palms against his head. "That's why you thought I'm accusing you of being gay"

"Aren't you always stupid?" Riku retorted, receiving a death glare from the other adolescent. "By the way, I'd rather get out of here fast... do you know where we are now?"

The brunette turned his head to look around. "Well, I know that we're in somewhere creepy, and dark, and ominous..." He trailed off, mentioning every detail he saw when he was observing his surroundings. "And filled with stones and dead trees..."

He saw Aqua beating the life out of the last Heartless.

"And hot babes and Heartless,"

"Just admit it, you don't know anything" Riku made a put a palm on his face after he had ordered his friend to stop talking about unnecessary nonsense. And, hot babes? Just where the hell he'd get that- right; he was mentioning THAT girl. He had to admit that Aqua was attractive, and kind enough to not just try to dish them out like what she did to that Heartless. "This is - The Realm of Darkness!" the silver-haired boy went through all the pain of emphasizing each and every phrase he had said for the air-headed Keyblade wielder to understand.

"Hmm..." Sora muttered thoughtfully, before another horde of Heartless appeared before them; aiming for Aqua who was standing there, as if expecting for the shadows and Neoshadows to come against her. "Hey, shouldn't we help her?" he asked, worried for the welfare of meant girl. The brunette pointed at the blue-haired lady, "I don't think she'd hold out against..." the he realized what she was holding with her right hand. "Hey! Isn't that a Keyblade?"

"Damn right it is," Riku replied. "And watch, she should be able to defend herself,"

Anticipating the next wave of Heartless, Aqua used a magnet spell to draw the lighter enemy close, and started slamming the Keyblade at their unfortunate bodies, taking several shadows down this way. When the Neoshadows started their assault, her body glowed light lavender and she had started to slam several magical balls into the oncoming Neoshadow. A Firaga Spell ensued, and burnt a few of the shadows. However, the amount of Heartless was too much to be taken down instantly before they touched her.

"We really should..." Sora's attempt to jump into the scene was abruptly stopped as unusual scenery came into his eyes. He promptly gawked, amazed. Riku followed suit.

The Keyblade Aqua wielded had extended itself into a much longer and bigger form of energy blade, with the wielder herself gracefully hacking at the poor mob of heartless that had dared to face her. It was as if she was dancing while at the same time executing bloody massacre towards her victims. Too bad the Heartless don't bleed, they simply disappear into Darkness.

"Now that's what you call a Big-Freakish-Sword" Riku commented, staring at the BFS. The blade itself can easily reach twice her height. The only reason that she would be able to carry it with such ease is because of the blade itself was not made of matter; it was instead made of energy and magic; and everybody knows that energy and magic had no mass.

"But that's a Keyblade" Sora argued, gaping in awe at the display of a woman with a strength which far exceeded his own. He looked over to Riku, and they both nodded.

"**That's one Big, Friggin' Key**," They both said in unison, watching as Aqua cleaned up the Heartless mob alone. The thought of helping her were cleanly dished out of sight. With Sora thinking she was too awesome to be helped, and Riku not wanting to help her for what she had done to his pride.

Not long later, all the heartless in the area had been taken care of.

Aqua walked back to where she was sitting peacefully before, only to see her new silver-haired acquaintance pulling up a frown and another boy, a brown-haired one, clapping his hands in amazement.

"You only did that because we can't" Riku commented dryly.

"I consider that a compliment, thank you" the blue-haired girl replied. Then she noticed the brunette beside Riku as the one who was unconscious earlier. He was putting his hands behind his head, which Aqua noticed as a habit a friend of hers had.

"I see you have awoken," she said, smiling at Sora. "If it's not for your friend's daring action to save you, you would probably have been doomed," she then looked at Riku, as if trying to imply that he had done something that he should not had done.

Sora eyed at Riku suspiciously, thoughts that were guessing about what Aqua had meant filling his brain. "You were lying back then didn't you?" he accused.

"I said I **DIDN'T** do anything like **THAT**, Sora. You seriously watch too many soap operas" Riku countered the gaze and they went into an all-out staring war.

Aqua looked at both of them and smiled. Ah, memories. They act exactly like those two boys would when they were in The Land of Departure. And being experienced with this kind of staring competition, she knew exactly what to do in the situation.

A blob of water appeared above the two boys' heads, before exploding and drenching their clothes with saltwater. Riku had been saved by the thick layer of hair that channeled the water down to his clothes, leaving him to stare grudgingly at both Aqua and his clothes, but Sora had practically choked at the seawater.

"Hey, what's that for?" Sora grumbled as his already wet clothes got even wetter. "It's not like we're somewhere hot that you need to douse me!" then he stared at the part of Aqua's chest that was just a few inches from her.

"Uh, sorry," The brunette said as he looked away with blushing cheeks, and an almost bleeding nose.

Riku snickered at his best friend. "You really need to get your hormones under control, Sora," the silver haired boy said, sucessfully earning a scowl from the brunette whose face was still a little bit red from the 'view'.

"But he's right; the temperature is too cold here. I'll light up a fire, and then we can talk later," Aqua said, and she lit up a flame on the sandy shore with magic. The three of them huddled near the flame, content of the warmness it provided them.

Sora then looked at Aqua. "I think I don't even recognize you... what's your name?" He asked. Inside, Sora was comparing her a little with Kairi. She looked like an older version of Kairi, with blue hair and... _breasts._ As a man, he had to admit that Aqua was sexually attractive.

"Why, I'm Aqua" the girl introduced himself. "It's a pleasure meeting people, especially here where chances of meeting sane people are almost zero," she joked at the last part of the sentence.

"Sora, nice t' meet ya too" the brunette replied. Then he remembered something. Back in the Station of Awakening, Ven had told him to tell a blue-haired girl named Aqua his greetings... he can't imagine that he would meet the meant person right away.

But this is a good opportunity.

"Then, Sora..." she called, "Do you feel strange at all?" Aqua was worried what the power of darkness would have affected the brunette. She could see Riku staring at her with eyes that mentally yelled. _'What am I, a crazed scientist using humans as experiments?'_

"No, not really..." Sora answered, currently puzzled as of why she had asked him in the first place. In the other hand, he seriously can't tell anybody that his panel of awakening had changed colors; he'd be doomed if he did say so.

Aqua and Riku faced each other, Riku equipped with a smug smirk and Aqua with a frown. But before Sora could say anything about it, the blue-haired girl immediately turned back to Sora. "You were wounded by a Keyblade, right?"

"Uh-uh" Sora nodded his head. But he hasn't got a clue as of why she had asked the question. It was as if she was studyingsomething about him... and his Keyblade.

"Do you know who the wielder is?" she asked getting more inquisitive when Sora had answered the first question.

Sora stared at her, puzzled. Then he felt shame rising from the depth of his brain. "It's my own keyblade, though..."

Aqua stared at him with doubtful eyes, as if telling him that it is impossible to stab yourself with your own Keyblade, except you did it by purpose, or you are simply stupid beyond reason. Sora sighed at this, because he didn't even know why was Xemnas able to rob him of his keyblade in the first place.

the brunette brought his hand forward, and summoned his keyblade to give her a proof. A flash of light appeared, and then...

"Whoa!" the brunette shouted, almost throwing the weapon above him in shock. "What the hell?" he stared at the Keyblade. Instead of being colored gold and silver as his original Keyblade, the Kingdom Key, it was colored pitch-black and had an Aquamarine stone on the middle of the hilt. And one single glance should prove that it was much more intricate and sharper than the Kingdom Key.

"Sora," Riku stated. "What happened to your Keyblade?"  


* * *

  
**A/N:** So, How's that? And for the ones that don't know what is a BFS, it is an abbreviation for **B**ig-**F*****ing-**S**word.(Censored for the sake of rating. Yes, I'm hellbent on securing the rating.) After all, I had promised some TvTropes references, right? That was The Bladecharge command style, and it is labelled BFS. I had planned for Ghost Drive (which was my favorite command style, hence new username), but I think of showing Aqua as a memetic badass.

Sora's Keyblade changed from Kingdom Key to Oblivion! And the reason in kinda obvious. After all, the Keyblade is determined by the heart, right?

Please don't forget to **review,** guys! And for those anonymous reviewers, this form below will be replying the questions you asked, as long it's not hooked into further parts of the story. If you don't find your questions there, it means that it would be explained later in the story.

Answer corner for those anonymous reviewers: because I can't e-mail you or PM you at all!  
(this might contain some game spoilers)

**Q:** How can you say that Mickey is a master?  
**A:** Tetsuya Nomura had said it himself in an interview. But if you don't believe me, note that Donald said that Yen Sid **was** his teacher. It means he is not anymore, and means that by KH I, Mickey was already a Keyblade Master.

**Q:** Vanitas is supposed to be dead in the BBS!**A:** Hence this fanfic is AU. Thank you for reminding me of the fact! 


	6. Awakening

**A/N:** Guess what, I replaced this chapter. Because shabby chapter is shabby, and when I re-read it there was something that contradicts with the canon (Thanks a whole lot for **Rith** for pointing it out!) so screw that awkward flashback, I'm cutting it to the major point.

Thanks for **Rith**, **Roxy mccartney** and **DestinyAurora** for reviewing the old chapter, and also for **2bblue01** for adding this story to the favorites/ alerts list!

* * *

**Chapter 6  
Awakening**

* * *

Kairi was trying to do her best in the training. She swung the Destiny's Embrace in the direction of the Bull's eye, hitting it before she fell back from the recoil.

"No, _no, **no**_!" Donald yelled, tending to Kairi. "You're not holding it strong enough, Kairi. That way the Keyblade would easily bounce off when you're hit!" the magician casted Cure to heal the scrape wounds that Kairi had inflicted on herself while training.

"Okay..." the red-head whined a bit. She brushed off the dirt that made its way to her arms when she fell and stood up, panting slightly. She then tightened her grip on the Keyblade like Donald had ordered her to. Wielding a Keyblade was way harder than she could imagine. Screw casting magic, she didn't even master the way of swinging it properly.

The sun was already setting in the Disney Town. Her sweat was flooding out of her pores, and she could hear her own heavy breathing. Goofy had told her to take the training the easy way, but Donald had asked for her to be serious. How could she possibly heed both? So Kairi tried being serious for the training.

"That's enough, you three,"

Kairi, Donald and Goofy turned around to see Mickey walking towards them. "Greetings, Your majesty!" the three saluted in the same time.

"I see you have all tried hard for the training. You can now take a rest," Mickey said. The three of them bowed, and Donald and Goofy had started walking their own paths, leaving Kairi in utter confusion.

"Come on So..." Donald said, and then abruptly cut off his own sentence. "I mean, Kairi,"

"Huh, what?" Kairi asked, apparently clueless.

"You need a change of clothes and all that, don't you?" Goofy replied. "We could lend you ours..."

Kairi imagined herself in Donald's or Goofy's outfit, and quickly dismissed the idea, slightly disgusted. "No, thank you. But I would appreciate if you'd guide me to where I would stay..." She said, blushing at the thought.

Realizing how stupid he and Goofy was, Donald immediately smacked his partner with his magic wand. "Girls don't wear our clothes, you big dummy!" he yelled on the dog's ears. "Daisy or Minnie I still consider... but _us_?"

"Ouch!" Goofy exclaimed as he was his on the head. "But Donald; weren't you thinking the same too back then?" the knight asked, holding his dear head and preventing it from taking further damage.

Hearing this, the Duck mage fell as silent as a stone. With a reddening face, he walked into the castle building. "Oh, shut up," he muttered. "The room's this way

Kairi followed the duo through the hallways, staring in awe at the patterns on the stained glass on the wall. Then they entered the Library, and climbed the stairs into the upper floor from there. Then they were met by another hallway which had a multitude of doors with names emblazoned on them. From Kairi's point of view, this might be some sort of dormitory, but it was placed inside a castle. After god knows how many doors they had passed, they finally stopped.

"Well, you can sleep here, I guess," Donald said, pointing to a pink- and white door with the name 'Elvira Coot' written on it with golden writing.

"Isn't this someone else's room?" Kairi asked nervously, pointing at the nametag. "Look, it reads 'Elvira Coot',"

"Granny Duck never used that room," the Duck mage said. "She prefers her old house in the farm, taking care of her barn animals and Gus Goose,"

"But... is this really okay? I mean this is still someone else's room, right?" Kairi protested, feeling embarrassment crawling up her cheeks.

Donald, in turn, pushed her into the door when Goofy opened it, pushing Kairi into the room. "I'll go look for clothes and whatnot," Said the wizard, walking away. "Stay here and be a good girl, okay?"

Kairi just nodded at a loss of words to say to him, and watched as he closed the door shut. She then looked around inside the room. It was covered in white and pink, and its window was shaped like the kingdom's symbol. The sun had set by then, and Kairi looked out of the window to gaze at the stars.

The sea of dark blue was lit by a multitude of stars, each glowing with different colors. The sky was cloudless, allowing each and every star light down at her sight. Nonetheless Kairi was very pleased with this.

"It's so pretty..." She said to herself, clutching her hand near her chest as she said so. "Are those two watching these stars too?"

Not long after, a knock was heard on the door. Kairi stopped her act of stargazing and opened the room's door, revealing Daisy who held with her an exact duplicate of Kairi's clothes.

"I don't know what you might like, so I asked Gus to make the same clothes for you," Daisy said, her head bowing a bit. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience..."

"I'm the one to say sorry, for you to make me new clothes..." Kairi said. "But anyway, thank you very much,"

"Pleased to be of service," the duck said, "And one more thing, The King requested for you to meet him in the audience room after dinner," after saying that, Daisy excused herself and walked away from the room, leaving Kairi alone in the room. 

* * *

"**W-what the hell?**" Sora almost cursed in shock when he realized that his Keyblade had shifted its form. "Why did my Keyblade change form?" he didn't remember putting another keychain in the kingdom chain's place, and not that he had interest in those other keychains, either.

Riku stared at the young keyblade wielder in some kind of dull surprise. The Keyblade had turned pitch-black... is this some kind of side-effect of what he did to Sora? He could feel Aqua glaring daggers at him, as if accusing him for what had happened. _Yeah, sure it was his fault..._

"Well, maybe it just sort of... happened," Riku said in defense. Sora eyed him skeptically, unsure if the silver-haired boy was being truthful on him or not. "Maybe a side-effect of what happened to you earlier?"

Sora dismissed his keyblade, and shook his head. "Don't hide it, Riku... I knew what you did, someone told me in my dream. And guess what, I'm not blaming anyone for it," he said with a warm smile. Riku then fell silent. _How can someone be so forgiving?_ That stunt he did might have killed Sora if it went wrong. Even if it didn't, there sure will be side-effects of it. He knew, and something did happen to him.

_Wait a second, how did he know, and who was that someone in Sora's dream that told him what I did?_ Riku thought. He was going to ask him about it, when Sora continued his speech, as if reading through his mind.

"I'm not telling you two who he was, though," He added. Any thought inside the other two's minds about asking about this mysterious person who talked to Sora in his dreams was then crashed as if it was a block of ice thrown from a cliff.

"So, no other strange symptoms, right?" Aqua asked, intrigued on how infusing one's heart with darkness was able to affect the form of the Keyblade. Sora nodded, putting his hands behind his back and grinned.

"Nope, not at all,"

"Good, then..." Aqua said, "Be sure to tell us if anything did happen, okay?" she then toyed a bit with her Wayfinder, tossing it upwards and than catching it multiple times. Riku stayed still, staring at the magicked fire with a serene expression. Sora noticed this- they were in lack of anything else to do.

"Then, would you guys find something better to do when I set up a tent for us to sleep in?" the brunette said, stifling a yawn. He too was getting bored. The remaining two turned to him, and then stared at him with a look of confusion. "Huh? How?" they said in unison. Not long afterward they closed their mouths and began a staring at each other, creating illusionary sparks in the process.

Sora reached inside his pouch and took out a small crystal ball out of it; he also couldn't help but to chuckle a bit as he did.

"I didn't even think that the old gramps' magic would actually come into practice," Sora muttered, a smile visible on his face. He stared at the blue crystal ball and held it in front of the firelight, letting it disperse the light from it.

Of course, the meant old gramps in Radiant Garden was having a coughing fit as Sora said that.

He then threw the ball into the sand behind him, and the moment the ball touched the ground it grew into wooden poles and strings that begun to attach themselves. Not long after, there were two sets of tents, complete with sleeping bags and lighting.

"You didn't even set that up," Riku retorted. "But that was pretty cool,"

"Thanks, old gramps Merlin made that for me," the brunette answered, shifting his position into a more comfortable one. "Oh, and Aqua... how did you learn those techniques? Those tricks were absolutely cool!"

"What?" Aqua blushed at the statement. "I... I learned it from my Master,"

"Could you also teach us?" Sora pleaded with excitement. "Me and Riku, of course!"

Aqua was about to nod when she heard the last statement. Then, she stared at the silver-haired adolescent with a look of doubt and sarcasm. "You just said... **he** knows how to wield a **Keyblade?**" she asked, stressing certain words to make her point clearer.

Riku countered her with the same look of sarcasm. "So what if I'm a Keyblade wielder? Shocking you much, huh?"

"Sorry if I have a certain grudge against Keyblade wielders of Darkness..." Aqua said between gritted teeth. She stared at Riku with hateful eyes, as if the silver-haired boy was an arch-nemesis of hers. Not long after, both sides are sending daggers to each other with their gazes.

"Oh, goodness..." Sora muttered to himself, tired of watching them argue over minor topics all the time. "Would someone stop this stupidity?"

* * *

Kairi found that she had awoken in an awkward place. She looked around. There was nothing but black that surrounded her, except for the circular, stained glass platform that she stepped on. It was colored light blue and tangerine, filled with flower-shaped patterns emblazoned on it and the image of the sea waves. An image of the redhead was also inside it, with eyes closed and leaning to one side of the panel.

As most people would do when they were thrown into an unknown dimension, Kairi had freaked out in reaction to her arrival to this mysterious place. _'How did I get here in the first place?'_ she thought, trying to retrace her memories. _'After bathing and dinner, Mickey had ordered me to see him in the audience room... then I was taken to this glowing stone, and then I touched it... Ugh, I can't remember anything since then,'_

"Welcome, Kairi," a voice said. "To the station of Calling,"

Kairi turned around to find a blonde girl in front of her, wearing a pure white dress and simple, pale blue slippers. The girl walked closer to her, looking at her with eyes full of hospitality.

"Oh... hi, Namine," Kairi replied, rather awkwardly. "Didn't think I'd see you _here_,"

"I didn't either," she said, stifling a bit of her giggling. "Of all places, this is the weirdest place for us to meet each other,"

"Then again..." Kairi said, looking around her nervously, as if it was a haunted house of some sort. "Do you know where is this, Namine? This place has an eerie feeling to it, but somehow it feels so familiar..."

"Most of us call this place The Station of Calling, an outer layer of the heart." Namine said. But Kairi only stared at her as if the blonde was talking some sort of alien language. Then, Namine decided to make herself easier to understand. "This is a space located inside your heart, and nobody, except yourself, is allowed to pass beyond this point. But you will need to pass, right?"

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked, not understanding Namine's point.

"From this point, you will be tested, whether you are worthy of not for the weapon bestowed to you, the Keyblade. Sadly, even if I wanted to, I will not be able to accompany you,"

"It's completely fine, Namine," the redhead answered in an attempt to comfort the Nobody. "Well, where's the test, then?"

As if on cue, a grand, wooden door had appeared between her and Namine, as if it was beckoning her to pass through it.

"Well, that's it. I'm off, Namine," Kairi said, waving goodbye to the Nobody as she went through the door, which faded away when Kairi had passed though it.

"My best regards... the other me,"

* * *

"**Sora**!" a voice called from inside the brunette's Station of Calling. "Sora, can you hear me? Hey, Sora!" The words fell to deaf ears, as no reply came form the black space that surrounded him and the Platform of Calling. A blond-haired boy with slightly spiked hair was shouting to Sora from his insides, but no avail.

"Hmm, what?" another blond boy came out, confused with the ruckus inside The Station of Calling, which was usually quiet, even deathly quiet. "What's going on..." he stopped a bit to see who was yelling, and immediately jumped in surprise. "Whoa!"

The other blond boy paid Ventus no heed and clenched his fists. "His heart might be stable for now... but his body won't be able to stay that way for long!" Roxas tried yelling again to his other, but there was no reply, yet again. "_...shit_!"

* * *

**A/N:** There, the replacement of the sixth chapter! A lot have changed, and personally I did think that this was better than the last one. Anyone thinking otherwise?  
For those who might be interested: **Beta Reader service is still needed.**

Rules still apply: **Review** if you can (and want to), but no forcing because this is a replacement, and earning three reviews for the last one was like, "What, really?" on my side. Thanks a lot for you guys! **Character Files Corner:** For those characters that weren't mentioned in the Original Kingdom Hearts game.

**Name:** Elvira Coot (Grandma Duck)**Category:** Disney Classic**Residence:** Duckburg**Description:** Who doesn't know Grandma Duck? Daughter of Cornelis Prul, the founder of Duckburg, Grandma duck is a lovely grandmother known for her cooking ability. She is currently living in her farm in the Goose Village, near Duckburg.

**Name:** Gus Goose**Category:** Disney Classic**Residence:** Duckburg**Description:** A great-niece of Grandma Duck who unfortunately was not so great. Gus Goose is extremely lazy, and will rather choose to sleep and eat rather than working. He is also a 'chew toy' for most of the Barn Animals.

**Name:** Gus**Category:** Cinderella**Residence:** Castle of Dreams (Currently Disney Castle)**Description:** Gus used to live with Jaq and Cinderella to help cheer Cinderella up after her hard work with 'step-muddy'. He is kind of lazy, but can also be serious when he wanted to. (For those who can't remember, Jaq is the one with the scrambled language, when Gus is the fat one, wearing blue.) When the Castle of Dreams once fell to the darkness, Gus escaped to the Disney Castle and lived there since.


	7. Training for the Greater Good

**A/N:** Chapter 7 is here! Sorry for the long wait, because semester test is here and I would not be able to touch the computer after this (in the duration of about two weeks. Ouch). Thank you very much for those who have reviewed the remake of chapter 6 (which you should read before this, beacuse a lot have changed in the remake, including several key points of the plot.), Who are **Rith** and **2bblue101**, also for the ones who have added this story to their favorites/ alerts list- **soraXkairiXriku** and **Dracula X**! you all have my gratitude!

I'm also trying to experiment with a new writing style- one that I adaptated from the Kingdom Hearts novels (including, but not limited to, _Chain of Memories: Reverse/ Rebirth_, and _358 over 2 Days_). I found the style interesting and rather imagination-stimulating, so I decided to try it out. might need your opinions about how it really would go, though...

* * *

**Chapter 7:Training for the Greater Good **

* * *

Aqua and Riku had finally come into an agreement. Aqua was willing to teach Sora and Riku the more advanced use of the Keyblade, but in return, during the training Riku had to be respectful to Aqua and not to throw one of his witty retorts at her when they were training. Riku had agreed with a scowl, and Aqua was more than a little happy with this agreement, but the one who enjoyed this agreement the most would be Sora.

He would not be subjected into any rules and still get the lesson. How sweet.

"Try combining magic and physical attacks for starters," Aqua had said in the start of the first lesson. "You are all skilled in standard weapon-wielding and magic casting, but try combining them both- it will pay off,"

"Like, how?" Sora asked, puzzled. He was used to casting magic and smacking opponents at the same time, and he had also used to dishing out enemies with magical bullets from his Keyblade, but combining magic and physical attacks? He never heard of such.

"Like... this!" Aqua threw her Keyblade towards the open sea, coating it in a blanket of icy Aura. The shorelines along the way the Keyblade passed were immediately frozen, and when the Keyblade hit the coral in the middle part of the sea...

Meant thing had immediately transformed into an ice pillar.

Sora and Riku went wide-eyed at this.

The Keyblade flew back to Aqua's hands, spinning. Sora clapped his hands weakly and Riku was resisting the urge to do the same. He got a pride to keep as the rival, though he's definitely fighting a losing battle...

"That one was called Freeze Raid," The blue-haired girl explained. "It's the same as the basic Strike Raid you know..." Sora started practicing the Strike Raid, throwing the Keyblade before catching it like a boomerang. Aqua nodded, confirming that it was the right gesture. "But in addition, an ice magic the same level as Blizzara is added."

Riku and Sora nodded, trying to stomach what Aqua had said. Then, Riku realized something. "So, how do we... uh, like, add magic to the physical attacks?" he queried. Aqua noticed this and gave the two one more demonstration. "First, is casting the magic. You aren't going to use the Keyblade as a catalyst as you usually do when casting magic... but instead, you are going to infuse the Keyblade itself with magic," With this, her left hand crackled with electricity and she touched her left palm into her weapon, which in turn glowed with a golden hue and made the same noise as her hand did before. "I just infused Thunder on the Keyblade," then she walked into the nearest stone, touching its black surface which was covered by blue curves in certain parts.

"Now watch,"

Both boys immediately averted their attention to their mentor, curious of what she was going to do. She raised her weapon arm, and in a swift motion brought it down like a crescent moon. The moment the edge of the Keyblade had touched the rock, a flash of lightning accompanied and the rock was severely dented, exposing the vein-like luminescent lines that were the stone's insides. Not broken, but it was deformed all right. And yet again, Riku must resist the urge to praise her.

"Now I want you to practice combining these two techniques, the physical attack and the magic spells. You may combine any kind of magic with any kind of physical techniques of your choice. Of course, I'll be watching. So, don't hesitate to ask," Aqua said before sitting on another stone, the one located beside the one she just crushed.

The blue-haired girl watched contently as the two boys started discussing about their choices and practiced what they had learned. They were excited, just as excited when Ven and Terra had their first try on this topic. Chaos had ensued when they matched the wrong spells and moves, however...

"Watch out!"

Aqua had regained her sense back just in time; and she dodged an Oblivion, which was spinning furiously past her and if she had not made a cartwheel out of the way, the Keyblade would have smitten her on the face. And that would not be a very funny display for her.

Sora quickly cached his Keyblade when it flew back to him, his face flushing red with embarrassment. "Note to self," He said out loud, "Never, ever try to combine Aero with Strike Raid before you can control it," he twirled the black Keyblade on his right hand, wondering what spell he should do instead. Something not... dangerous...

"You might want to practice controlling it, though," Riku advised, snickering. Damn, that was close. I'd really laugh if she really got struck by a flying Keyblade. "Do it while you can- you don't get a chance for training just anytime,"  
The brunette was actually excited with the move he had just executed, as it was quite cool and reached way farther than a usual Strike Raid would. "Nah, I'm not going to risk you getting hit by a flying Keyblade," he answered, before figuring out which combination he should do next. Something not pretty dangerous...

Sora's palm glowed both red and light blue, and when he gripped the Keyblade with that hand, magical orbs began to spin around it. "It's working!" he said in glee, looking at the two shiny spheres of Magnera spell. It was all fun and fine before he realized that a silver-haired boy was staring at him, annoyed, while his back was stuck on his keyblade, drawn in by the magnetic force.

"Release that, now," He ordered. Sora had panicked at this, quite afraid that he would be smitten with Dark Firaga if he did not heed his orders, and immediately dismissed the magic; thus Riku promptly fell forwards with the help of inertia. Somehow the older boy had regretted when he had simply slept in the physics lesson back in the Destiny Islands, when the teacher was talking about the Newton's Laws of Motion. Aqua stifled a giggle in the sight of this.

Sora only watched, making a mental note to his mind as a result of his two failed attempts making correct combinations of moves and magic spells.  
This is not going to be as easy as he thought it would be.

* * *

Kairi had arrived in an almost identical platform as before when she finally passed the wooden door; the only difference notable being the absence of Namine. Three pedestals stood before her, each hosting different kinds of weaponry.

A sword, a shield, and a wand were present. The three items floated in the air above their respective base, Kairi situated in the middle of the triangle. What does this mean? She wondered at the sight of the mystical-looking items around her. Then, a ghostly and echoing version of Kairi's voice was heard.

** "The power within you is yet to be awakened. To obtain, you must lose. To lose means to obtain. What will you choose to obtain, and what will you give up in exchange? Choose carefully."**

Kairi saw a very faint flash of red in the outside of the platform. The small light got clearer as a small, blue creature appeared, the red light coming from what supposed to be its eyes. It was actually pretty cute- that was the first impression that Kairi soon heavily regretted. When the red-headed girl took a better look around her, there was actually more than one of these creatures. They circled around the platform, stepping on the darkness that surrounded the platform, but still could not get inside; as if they were held outside by some kind of unknown force.

They were twitching frantically, and doing moves not actually possible for any living being; if you would take the act of turning themselves into blue pools as an acceptable example.

Her mind was practically screaming at the sudden appearance of those mysterious creatures, which are neither Heartless nor Nobody. But something inside her had assured her that she was safe. And she would be safe. Mustering all her courage she walked up to the wand- a wand with a flower design on its core. She climbed into its base and snatched the item.

"I choose this," Kairi muttered. And heeding to her words, the other two items- the sword and the shield- had vanished. That left Kairi, holding the wand tightly in her hands. The wand turned into a beam of light and was immediately replaced by the Destiny's Embrace her Keyblade.

"I have made my choice- there's no turning back now," Kairi told herself this as she eyed the creatures suspiciously. _These creatures are most likely hostile,_ she thought.

A sound of glass shattering was heard and these blue creatures immediately walked in, in a somewhat stuttering motion. Stopping, then running as if there was no tomorrow. Then it sank into the ground and moved about. Kairi drew a sharp breath, and with a well-aimed swing brought down the weapon.

The blue creature let out a screech before disappearing into black mist. Kairi was surprised on how she suddenly became so agile and precise, but decided to shrug the topic off for the moment and went for the remaining creatures.

_ I don't know why- but since I gripped this Keyblade in my hands my senses had become sharper, and my arms had responded quicker. It was as if this weapon was a long-lost piece of me, the talent I had just discovered._

Kairi could hear her own footsteps as she swung the weapon at the creatures, diminishing their amount. The screeches were hurtful to the ears, but yet somehow she enjoyed every part of it- as if it was a routine of some sort.

_ And somehow I wondered how did Sora, who would always get beaten up in a fight against Riku, gained so much power even to defeat him- defeat Riku- when he was possessed by the darkness._

A stairway appeared on one edge of the platform, connecting it to another, higher pedestal. Kairi ran towards the next platform, Her Keyblade at the ready. For each small creature she encountered, she struck at them four to five times before they would finally disappear.

Waiting on the next platform was a door, almost the same type as the one she had passed through from the Station of Calling to reach the Station of Awakening. _Then, this door must lead to the next part of my trial. No use chickening out, now..._

Kairi slowly placed her hand on the door's handle and opened it. At first, she was afraid to even take the first step forwards; even her hands were actually trembling when she held the door's handle tight. However she convinced herself- that it would be all right- and pushed through.

Again, she was met by the same scenery- same platform, same image, same dark, somehow ominous surroundings. There was only one platform this time- the one Kairi had laid her legs on. The wooden door she had passed had disappeared as if it was never there.

Then, she heard the voice again, the same voice as hers, but it was outside; her ears responded to it as if it was making an announcement in the school hallway.

**You are one with the purest of Heart. You have no Darkness inside you- but negative emotions are present inside you. You will have to fight against your own negativity- let your heart guide you through the flood of emotions that you will face.**

As if called by the voice, from the platform's surface had appeared a large, cobalt blue pool. It then surfaced and formed a creature, the same creature as she fought inside the first stages of the Station of Awakening- with a twist.

The twist being that the creature was easily five times of Kairi's size. And somehow the difference in size makes the creature that more menacing. Its bright red eyes were unmoving, but it was as if an angry expression was painted permanently to the creature's face.

_I'm really going to fight that thing? _When Kairi looked at her weapon arm, she noticed that her Keyblade had disappeared, so she tried to summon it the way that Mickey had taught her before hand, which she had failed so badly at.

_Imagine... and focus. At least I was taught that..._ The Keyblade immediately appeared before her hands, not requiring her to make as much effort as it did beforehand, when just summoning the Keyblade had cost her most of her mental power. She felt confidence rising through her and brandished the weapon, not the slightest bit of fear evident in her face.

"Here I go!" she yelled before leaping into the creature.

* * *

_This thing is strong, very strong. Hell, I never fought anything nearly as strong as it- not even that Keyblade Master that I would have assassinated if that mouse had not intervened was this strong._

Vanitas skidded backwards, barely avoiding a beam of energy aimed at his mask-covered face. Even though they had been locked against each other for hours, the animated armor had showed no sign of weakness or fatigue. It was as if he was fighting against a rock. Except, this rock actually fights back-painfully at that.

_It's as if this thing has no weakness at all- or I just haven't found it yet._

He sank to the ground stealthily like a Shadow, sending an uppercut towards the thing when he had resurfaced. No sound of anybody screaming- he had kept silent himself, not wanting to reveal his position- and the Armor made no sound except for the loud-clanking voice of his Keyblade against the Orichalcum metal that builds the suit. No matter how hard or how often I hit this thing, it seems as if there's no damage against it as all. And damn, that armor was pretty hard.

Doing a back-flip, the black-haired youth had barely missed a mighty swing aimed at his chest. He would have been doomed if he had actually took the hit without dodging or guarding himself. Once more they had engaged in a hit and run battle, with Vanitas trying to evade every one of the energy arrows aimed at him and the Lingering Sentiment trying to hit him in whatever method it knew. They would clash for a split second, with Vanitas doing a sneak-attack and the armor striking his weapon-preventing him to inflict any damage.

_Could anything- I mean ANYTHING- get more stubborn than this? _Vanitas concentrated on his enemy's form, not wanting it to do a sneak-attack against him. From the spot where the Void Gear had grazed the living suit of armor, he could see the color of red and gold overlapping against each other behind the thick layer of dust and small particles of sand. Vanitas couldn't help but to smirk at the discovery.

_Heh! It seemed that Master had succeeded in obtaining a new body after all I had thought he was dead; the guy I killed in that world looked so similar to him. Now that I know he's not dead... I have no reason to deal with this thing. This poor, pathetic, yet extremely stubborn piece of scum that master tricked into submission. _

After a fit of maniacal laughter that even sets a suit of armor off, Vanitas created a corridor of Darkness and disappeared through it.

_Interesting, very interesting! I'm sure even Master would be surprised to see me again- now no longer the loyal dog who bids on his every will!_

* * *

**A/N:** So, what do you think? And how's the new storytelling style? Does it get any better than any previous one? If you hadn't noticed- there is a good amount to text written using _Italic formatting_, right? I've been using them for quite some time now, but did you notice that they have increased a great deal? Is it better like this- focusing to the characterization- or rather, should I focus to the details of the story more?

I have a little question- because nobody- I mean the "no one" variation- had mentioned it: should I do a time-skip straight to where the plot starts? (about five months or so) the scenes after this chapter won't be very, very eventful, so...

**Don't Forget to Review**! Your every opinion, ideas, and corrections are my most valuable gifts when it comes to my growth towards being a real author. Sorry for the oncoming Hiatus, marks are quite important for my existence after all... and I'm not planning on failing. I have responsibility, at least to my parents, that is.  
See You in the Next Chapter!  
_- Regards, the Author._


	8. A Falling Star

**A/N:** Yes- this is the eighth chapter of this story! Let's see... I'm through with the exam already- what remains is the unnecessary subjects. I failed mathematics and english- which is weird in the english part- somehow! We're moving to the 'center' part of the fiction- which includes travelling to other worlds- and with that a time skip of several months. **talesfangirl** had totally helped me form the plot of this story- along with the information given by you- the kind readers and reviewers of course. So thanks again to the reviewer -**Rith**, and the one who added this story to their favorites/ alerts list: **XxVanitasxX**!

Because you're reading this not for the rambling- but fot the story- fine! we shall now see the story!  


* * *

** Chapter 8  
A Falling Star**

* * *

In the Hall of The cornerstone, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie watched as Kairi lay motionless in front of them, breathing peacefully as if in a deep slumber. The mage would poke her out of curiosity once in a while, but he would not get a single response out of them, she was not even shifting position, only sleeping, voiceless and serene.

Minnie, disconcerted by the display of a somewhat alien reality in front of her, decided to ask Mickey for an answer to all the questions popping seamlessly in her poor head. "Dear, what's happening to her?"

Mickey fidgeted for a bit, and his head seemed to be frantically searching for an answer that would be acceptable for his wife. "Uh, you see..." he muttered to himself for a bit, trying to explain in as simple as possible. "This is what they call the Awakening- a phase that all Keyblade wielders must go through in order to utilize their powers properly,"

Minnie just stared at him in a state of complete bewilderment. Oops, wrong words- thought Mickey as he tried to search his head for a more simple answer for the question his wife had just given him. "In other words, it's a way Kairi can enhance her mastery of the Keyblade,"

Minnie nodded deciding to just accept it the way Mickey had put it, and then she looked at the red-haired girl once more. She had wondered- one of the factors of her mind going wild was because Kairi's state was a little bit too static to be called as 'sleep'.

Her expression seemed to be unchanging- the only sign showing that she was actually living was the periodical rising and falling of her chest when she breathes on the air. The mouse Queen held her hands together and closed her eyes- silently praying that nothing bad would happen to Kairi when she underwent her 'Awakening'.

* * *

**(Kairi's POV until further notice)**

Kairi ran behind the huge creature, attempting a sneak attack while at the same time avoiding the shockwaves that remained of the attacks that had been targeted to her. Even at such a distance she could clearly feel the vibration- this creature is nothing to joke about.

Reaching its back, the red-haired girl jabbed her Keyblade at its cobalt blue skin. Sure, it made a scratch in its skin, but it was as if the creature was taking no damage at all- instead it turned towards Kairi's direction and she was forced to make a run for dear life- even if she had suddenly powered up, she still would not be able to survive a fall to a bottomless abyss.

Several other creatures- the much smaller replicas of the huge creature she was fighting had also appeared from the platform's surface. They were nothing more than an annoyance- stuffing her path as she attempted to escape. Kairi ended up having to dish out several of these creatures to avoid them attacking her when she had her back turned at them.

She would not be able to win this way- Kairi knew that fact the instant when the creature had started sending fists that could enact shockwaves at her. There should be another strategy instead of just running around in random directions- avoiding the attacks the monster executed and occasionally smacking at its back- which as she had experienced after several tries, had little to no effect at all towards damaging the creature severely.

"Think, Kairi. Think..." the redhead said to herself as if she was chanting a mantra as she avoided a giant clawed hand swiping viciously at her. The situation seemed to be taking a turn for the worse for her- she needed to think and act- fast, at that.

Then she remembered something- something that Sora had nonchalantly said to her when they were just little children- after the brunette's first victory against Riku. _"You might want to know- against any creature of a big size, aim at the face! Nothing can stand a smack at the face- even the fiercest of the lions!"_

That gave Kairi an insight on how to defeat the creature- a smack on the face. But the problem is- how should she smack the creature's face if the creature is five times her height and is slamming its claws at her viciously? _She couldn't climb on it, either..._

At that time, she had wished that she had a projectile of some sorts- something to throw at the creature's face. Like what Riku spammed at those Nobodies in The World that Never was... or the shards of ice that Sora and Donald called out of the blue to slam those creatures with...

If she remembered it, Sora also did a keyblade-throwing stunt in combat... Kairi then looked over to her Keyblade, while still trying her best to get out of the creature's range of sight, which was thankfully quite poor. _I could give it a try..._ the girl thought. But it was a risky move indeed. If the Keyblade did not come back to her, she would be losing her weapon.

Then she realized how stupid her thoughts were. Losing her Keyblade? That sounded like a whole load of crap. But if she missed, that would also be embarrassing. Deciding that she had no other choice, Kairi waited until the blue creature turned its head at her. Then at the quick gap before it turned it head away, she threw her Keyblade like a Frisbee, hoping that it would reach its target somehow.

Kairi's throw was actually a bit off-target, but thankfully it was a Keyblade that she was throwing. The weapon spun and turned in mid-air and hit the unknowing creature square in the face, also hitting both its deformed eyes in the process. Kairi caught the weapon, which had flew back towards her, and watched as the creature fell on its back, before it was dropped into the endless abyss of her heart.

After she had watched the creature meet its own doom, suddenly all the energy she had just escaped her. She felt tired, she was trying hard to catch her own breath, but she had felt nothing when she was in the heat of battle. All the excited feelings inside her had disappeared into exhaustion. Another door appeared, this time looking a little different than usual. Kairi made a note to herself that she was not going to meet with a lot of doors today for the record, and opened the door. A surge of bright light came out of the other side of the door, then...

Kairi found herself lying on hard floor. Above her was white, along with the walls and the floor. A single white orb was glowing serenely right beside her. She winced a bit and groaned as she felt the pain the cold floor had inflicted to her poor bones.

Not a second after she made that groan, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy had grouped in front of her, each asking her their own questions.

"Uh, can you please ask once in a time...?" Kairi said, confused by the barrage of questions aimed at her poor ears and brain.

* * *

**(Third person Point of View until further notice)**

(Several months later...)

Kairi was still training with Donald and Goofy, with them exchanging blows at each other, Donald and Goofy taking turns striking against the girl while she also switched styles- using physical attacks, magic, or even mixing them both in an attack. Mickey had taught her a lot since then- which he said was useful to fill his free times as a King- because the Disney Town had never needed that much of upkeep anyway.

Kairi was also a fast learner, usually managing to execute a move properly after a day of practicing. She was also more proficient in using magic than she is when executing physical attacks. Nobody had asked her as of why, but Kairi had guessed that it was a result of her choosing the wand over the two other weapons in the first stage of her awakening.

Their style of training had also greatly improved. Instead of using the wooden shield equipped with bull's eye for convenience, they had been training using their usual weapon- complete the rebounds that both sides received when the weapons clashed.

In the middle of the training, however, Mickey had approached them- causing them to stop short and bowed at the authority figure. "Good afternoon, Your Highness," they said in unison, each making a ninety-degree bow.

"Good afternoon, all of you," Mickey returned the salute. "I have watched over you three and I assume..." he paused for a moment, and a sudden tension covered the four. "Kairi, you are ready for the test for your Mark of Mastery,"

"Mark of Mastery?" the three asked almost in the same time. Mickey then explained to them- that the Mark of Mastery was a proof that one is fully proficient in wielding the Keyblade. It was not a physical proof, like an emblem or something, but only one with the title of a Master can train disciples on his/ her own. Of course this had meant nothing for Kairi- as she didn't intend to teach anyone, but the pride was not something easily resisted.

"And for that, I'm going to see Master Yen Sid. Goofy, Donald, can you accompany me to Twilight Town? Just because Xemnas is no more doesn't mean the Nobodies would also vanish with him." Donald and Goofy saluted, confirming that they were eager for the journey. "And Kairi- consider this a holiday- you haven't even visited the town once,"

Kairi nodded at the king's words- realizing that she indeed had never went to the Disney Town before. Her attention was fully focused on her training- so much that she had never actually left the castle grounds- for months at that.

Playing around in the Disney Town sounded like a good idea for her.

* * *

Riku, Sora and Aqua walked through a darkened, stone lane. The only light guiding them was a line of white emanating from Riku's Keyblade, when Sora and Aqua took turns casting fire so that they would be able to see their surroundings easily.

They had been walking the lane for about two weeks, searching for a certain "light"- the Light that had brought Riku back from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light. The realm of darkness itself was a big, endless labyrinth, with the sea as the barrier that casted it away from the Realm of Light.

"Hey, Riku," Sora called, trying to start a conversation between them. The seriousness of their journey for more than a few days had begun to wear out on him. "What"s exactly this "light" you were talking about, anyway?"

Riku gave him a sly smirk in reaction to the question. "One look and you"ll know what it is,"

Sora, in turn, gave him a rather annoyed look- muttering that the answer given to him was not an answer at all. Aqua giggled, looking at the two friends, while she herself was also wondering what this 'light' could be. A light inside the darkness- just like the old legend said...

While the three were launching jokes and mockings into each other to help pass the stress and time away, Riku, who was leading the way, noticed something and immediately ran forward, completely ignoring his two friends.

Aqua and Sora noticed this- and immediately they also ran up to Riku, partly worrying about the silver-haired boy and the other part curious about what had made Riku run like that. The boy was undoubtedly a fast runner, as even when the two are also running they could not be able to catch up with him; and they had passed quite distance- by running about half an hour- when Riku had stopped in front of a meadow, and the other two caught up with them, they were amazed by what they saw.

"That's..." Sora and Aqua said in the same time, unable to contain their amazement of what they saw before their very eyes.

"Yes, that's..." the older boy replied, his aquamarine eyes reflecting the blue glow that "it" gave off. In front of them was an enormous, heart-shaped orb, colored light blue. It gave off so much light that its light outmatched all the light inside the Realm of Darkness mixed up together. Below it, thousands and thousands of Heartless crawled, desperate to reach the ultimate form of the heart- only to disappear by its ethereal light.

"Kingdom Hearts" the three said, astonished with the legendary item in front of them.

"So, what do we do?" Sora asked, still in a mix of "puzzled" and "amazed". "Open the Door to Light with our Keyblade? "

"..." There was a silence before Riku answered, his hand put on his head- as if trying to contain a great amount of embarrassment."Exactly,"

Sora was dumbfounded by how cheesy it was.

* * *

In another world, a little girl, no more than seven years old of age, was cuddling with her so-called "pet animal" in the night. She cuddled against the blue creature, its stature almost the same height as her. The creature itself let out a hardly understandable gibberish that resembles a laugh when she tickled it with all her might.

It was night, and she knew that she had to stop playing soon or else her sister would get angry. She had stopped tickling the blue "dog", and stared at the window for the sight of the stars when she spotted a burst of light falling from the sky. She immediately jumped out of bed, grabbed the arm of her pet and dragged him to the window.

"Look, Stitch!" She pointed gleefully at the descending light. "It"s a falling star!"

* * *

  
**A/N:** So! if you really don't know who is the girl- worry not! She's not an OC! Because... I'm not that creative to make a character myself- she's Lilo from the movie- 'Lilo and Stitch'! I bet you guys know what is the descending light- or falling star as Lilo puts it. pretty obvious, huh?

There are six worlds to be covered in this story- first is this world- then Duckburg, followed up with Twilight Town (including Mysterious Tower) and Radiant Garden. The next two worlds are still undecided- and I've put a poll to help me decide! You can vote on the poll- and if you wanted another Disney movie (Remember- it HAS to be Disney. That's the whole point of Kingdom Hearts, right?) you can always drop a review or private message me- I'll put them into consideration, all of them!

Well, still, **Review**! because the fate of this fic sits on your hands! 


	9. Forgotten Friend

**A/N:** Here is the ninth chapter of the story! Thank god that exam is officially over, but I FAILED. Holy Crap. I have to brace myself to be chewed by my parents... arr.

Thank you for **talesfangirl** and **roxy mccartney**(sorry that this chapter didn't reach to what I had promised because it's so damn long...) for the beloved reviews, and for **Dark-Wing-Blader** and **renmarie** for the addition to favorites/alerts list!

And WOOT! More than twenty reviews and more than 1900 hits! Seriously, I feel really loved!  


* * *

  
Falling; they were falling from the Sky- again. Riku was getting bored of the clich that made them fall from the sky each and every time that they had crossed the borders of the realms. Maybe they would end up splashing into the harmless sea- again.

They were falling head-first to the world below them, and with the help of gravity force blood had started rushing quickly to the head- it made him feel nauseous. Sora was obviously panicking in the background for the height of the fall, and Aqua seemed to be dizzy of the high velocity they were moving into.

Until Riku realized that they were moving in an accelerated pace- not towards a sea like usual- but instead, they were plunging to the seashore. _'Holy crap_,' he thought- _That's going to hurt- a lot_.

"Don't say we're going to have our head smashed by hitting that!" Sora almost screamed. His mind was practically haunted with images about his doom. "Damn, I wish gravity is nonexistent!"

In a split second of thought, Riku summoned his Way to Dawn, and charged up power for a magic spell in midair. He waited for the right time- as the duration of the spell needs some calculating and timing, then when they almost reached the ground- in which point Sora was flailing and Aqua was getting to dizzy to even concentrate-

He defied the gravity itself.

"Release the bounds of earth, _Zero Gravira_!"The silver-haired boy managed to choke out in the last seconds before their impact to the sandy ground. A black-colored circle appeared on their landing point, and before the two others knew anything about it, they were floating in mid-air. Riku took advantage of the spell's effect and balanced himself for the landing.

Sora was having difficulty in this- as he was flailing his arms around- trying to get in the right position. Aqua quickly flipped her position, so that the pressure inside her head, caused by the immense amount of blood, would finally cease to be. At the same time, she also braced herself for the incoming drop.

Not a long time later, the spell had tired out.

"Ouch!"

Riku and Aqua had landed safely on the ground, so the silver-haired boy turned only to see Sora had actually fell back-first into the sands; exactly the reason why the brunette had shouted. He then offered a hand, which his friend gleefully accepted. Riku then pulled the fellow keyblade wielder up.

"Uh, thanks..." Sora muttered, scratching his head. He looked down upon the sands so that he would able to hide his face from the silver-haired boy.

"If you really are sorry you should have been more careful," Riku answered, withdrawing his hand from Sora's. "Then again, it was quite an entertainment I had, seeing the hero fall such embarrassingly."

"Riku, you..!" Sora growled playfully, and then attempted to pounce at him. Of course a 'stop it, you two' from Aqua managed to stop them from doing any further. Then, they stopped to see the surroundings. The nostalgic smell of the sea, the rising tide, and the sound of the waves- they all seem familiar to the three of them.

"Could this be Destiny Islands?" Sora asked, recalling his homeland that he had not visited for long- he had left for more than one and half a year.

"No, guess again," Riku pointed to a point further from the shore. "I see lights there. And I don't remember that the shores of Destiny Islands are this populated..." he pointed at the remains of someone having barbecue on the sands. The smell of charcoal and roasted meat had become too unbearable for them.

"If I remember it..." Sora trailed off. "How long has it been since we've eaten?" he counted inside his mind, using his fingers as a tool to help him count the numbers. "Like, months?"

"But there's no point in eating when we don't get hungry at all,"

"Yes..." Sora whined a little, defeat striking him hard like a bunch of stones thrown mercilessly into his head. His body was limp, practically only relying on to his feet so that he would not fall forward. "So, this is a populated area, right? Should we get to the nearest inn or should we set up tents?" he asked, head perked up again.

"I don't even need to answer that," Riku said his left hand scratching his head, and the other one pointing out right behind them. "Look"

Aqua and Sora turned their respective heads to the direction Riku was pointing- and immediately they found a large, wooden building- and it even had a sign that reads "Kauai Resort" printed in large, red alphabets- conveniently lit up with a couple of torches.

The trio just had to be amazed when they saw the building in front of them, and the fact that they had been ignoring it all the time.

"Ah, how convenient..." Aqua said, in a loss of any more words to say- her eyes wide and her hands stiff- sometimes twitching, as if she was grabbing something solid with her bare hands.

"How long have it been since I have visited a world that ACTUALLY have inns?" Sora half-protested, clenching his fists in a manner that was used to hold down one's own anger - but he didn't just stand there- he immediately took a step first into the building's rather spacious entrance. "Come on- we're not going to waste our time here, are we?" he called to the other two,

"Of course not I'm not some airhead with Zero sense of balance!" Riku joked as he ran towards the brunette. Aqua watched the two buddies in glee and followed them inside- yelling, "Wait for me, you guys!"  


* * *

  
When the trio had entered the inn's building, they found out the insides of the inn is not very different from any other inns. Quaint, peaceful, it was almost too peaceful. Sora could have sworn that the one and only inn he had crossed during his journey had been choked full with Heartless roaming around in every nook and cranny. Thankfully they were not very powerful as to be able to break the barrier his magician friend had created to protect them during their stay, but the sounds were rather unnerving for those who had only heard it recently.

The receptionist seemed to have dozed off- then Sora looked at the tropical-themed clock that was positioned above the sleeping worker- it showed 2 A.M; no wonder that he was still very exhausted. But they need a place to stay in anyway... they decided to wake him up.

"Uh, sir," Riku poked the man's tanned arm, which was folded along with the other one to act as a comfortable cushion for him to take a day's rest. After a few more poking attempts and several calls meant to wake the worker up softly, the man finally raised his head to see Riku- and he promptly shifted into his rightful position- as a receptionist, of course.

"Uh..." the receptionist stared at the clock for a moment. "Good Morning sir, how can I be of service?" he asked nicely, though the silver-haired boy could have sworn he had been cursing about the guests' untimely entrance. After all, the expression on his face clearly showed so.

"Yes," Riku answered, getting straight to the point. "We would like two rooms for the night,"

The receptionist stifled a yawn, and then he punched several numbers into the cash register. "And that, sir, will be 60 dollars,"

At this, Riku was taken aback. The only currency he had on in his hands was munny. He had been on and away into Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and many other worlds that accepted munny as a payment... wait a second.

The other shops were run by the moogles, which generally use munny as their currency of shopping. He had never attended real shops that originated from these worlds.

And this particular world just happened to have a different currency. Damn...

"I don't have any dollars, but..." The silver-haired boy reached out for his pocket, rummaged for a bit, and then he pulled out several bluish-yellow gems from inside. Then, he put the 60 munny on the table. "I hope this would suffice."

The receptionist then stood still like a statue, his widened stare of disbelief aimed straight at the gems that Riku had offered to him as a payment. Then he regained his composure, took his own wallet, and slipped three pieces of printed paper, each one bearing the writing of 'twenty dollars' and slipped it into the cash register before slamming it close.

"Sweet cakes!" he exclaimed. "I must be dreaming right about now," the receptionist kept on telling himself that- so much that it had started to sound like a mantra of madness. He eyed the gems, as if they were items conjured by his imagination- a hallucination, no less. Then he started pinching himself in an effort to make sure that it was really not a dream.

"Uh- are you all right, sir?" Riku asked nervously. He was afraid that he might have snapped one of the important parts of the receptionist's nerve system. And that would be awful- for him and poor receptionist.

"Oh?" The receptionist asked, seeming to have momentarily forgotten about the existence of his customer. "About it, yes- you can stay, as long as you wish," he said, greed being visible on his face when he pocketed the munny. Then he handed them a couple of keys each labeled with numbers- 313 and 314. "The rooms are on the third floor."

And with this, Riku left. That had left the receptionist to mutter on how he would buy a ring for his lover among many other things that he would like to do with the fortune.

"So, how'd it go?" Aqua had asked the silver-haired boy when he had returned from the reception counter.

"Well, I got us two rooms..." Riku answered, playing with the keys. He spun the ring around, letting the metal keys make a jingling sound as they hit against each other.

"Sweet!" Sora exclaimed. Then he quickly snatched the keys and ran upstairs to the third floor.

"You won't believe me," Riku said, getting Aqua's attention. "That I only paid 60 munny for two rooms, and the receptionist said that we get to stay here as long as we like,"

"How generous of him," the Keyblade master answered, partly not believing what Riku had just said to her. "I just hope the room he gave us is not a janitor's..."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," Riku agreed to her and let Aqua go up the stairs first before he followed.

Fortunately, the rooms they got were not janitor rooms at all. Actually it was a pretty nice room, quite ventilated, and best of all, there two beds inside each room. Because Sora had gone and barged inside the room 314, Aqua decided to take room 313, because of gender factor and all.

"Good night," the blue-haired girl said, referring to the silver-haired boy and the sleeping brunette inside room 314.

"Yeah, good night for you, too" Riku answered before closing the door and shut off the light, enjoying the soft surface of the bed he had not enjoyed in about a year and a half's worth.  


* * *

  
"Seriously, you two eat like pigs,"

"I can't help it! It's been MONTHS since I've last eaten anything!"

"Me too,"

Aqua, Sora and Riku walked out of the inn after they had their breakfast, chatting along the way. They were rather... surprised that the beach was already bustling with life even at 10 a.m.- there were already merchants selling goods and souvenirs, children playing with the beach sand, teenagers and adults alike swimming and enjoying the sea waves.

"Wow, so different from Destiny Islands," the brunette commented, in awe at the bustling crowd in front of him. "Thank god we haven't seen any Heartless, or it'd be a mess." With this comment, Aqua and Riku can't help but nod, their brain imagining the horror that would sprout if there were Heartless roaming around the area.

"Come on, Sora." Riku grabbed his friend's hand, dragging them into the more crowded part of the beach. "Let's enjoy when we're at it, huh?" In reflex, Sora grabbed Aqua's wrist, dragging her along with them. "Wanna come too? The more the better!" the blue haired girl smiled at this, and she also held Sora's arm. The three of them then marched to the beach.  


* * *

  
"That's cheating, Riku!" Sora complained as his silver-haired friend took off first, having thrown his shirt and vest into the nearest bench and took off with a yellow surfboard. "You had a kick start!"

"You're just too slow!" Riku taunted, turning around to see that Sora had also discarded his shirt and vest, and was running towards him with a black surfboard. Aqua was right behind them, the draping pieces of fabric that formerly hung on her waist placed on the top of the pile of garments the boys had formed when they had removed their clothes.

But in the middle, someone had poked the blue-haired girl, forcing her to stop. The boys seemed to not notice this and went straight to where the waves are present. Aqua turned to face several men whose faces she didn't even recognize.

"Hey missy," one of the strangers said, stepping into a dangerous distance from her. "You seem like you could use a company..."

Slightly terrified, but mostly disgusted by these men, Aqua took a slight step back from the three. "Thank you, but I have companions..." she said, of course mentioning Riku and Sora, who were busy surfing behind her.

"Ah, but they're not here now, are they?" the three stepped closer to her, making the keyblade master grit her teeth. She was about to send a kick flying to these disgusting men...

But she was a cut short when a blue, fluffy ball went past her and smacked one of the molesters square in the face. The process repeated as the ball bounced at the three assailants' faces, alternating from one person to another, until their faces are red from the hits.

"Why, you-!" one of the ball's victims attempted to attack Aqua, thinking the ball was of her deed. He was about to punch her on the gut when he promptly screamed, before falling to the sand, following his comrades.

Gnawing at his feet was a blue creature with big beady eyes, its figure a weird mix between a rabbit, a koala and a dog. It growled fiercely, and then released its bite, muttering what sounded like "Bad guy!"

The three, terrified by the animal that had been the ball hitting them square in the face, immediately took a thousand steps away from Aqua and it. The creature turned at them, gleefully laughing at the terrified action of the 'bad guys'.

Aqua raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the unique creature that seemed to be very familiar to her. Big eyes, blue fur, a wild tendency, big ears... why does it all connect together?

Then all of the clues rang in her head. It was the creature she met in the spaceship in the Lanes Between. Sure, it lost a pair of legs and a pair of antenna, but its behavior and other physical features were unmistakable. It was experiment 626, the 'abomination' that was to be imprisoned inside the space ship. But how did it end up here- was it released of its good behavior?

"Stitch!" a childish voice called. A black-haired girl ran from the other side of the beach to get to her pet animal. "Let's go home- Nani is waiting for us." Then she looked up to Aqua. "Sorry about Stitch- he can get a little bit wild at times,"

The creature looked sorry, looking at Aqua with its big, beady, pleading eyes. "Suh - ree... AhKooWah..." then it followed its master away from the beach. Aqua stared at the air in confusion- did it just call her name?

Not long after, she saw Riku and Sora running past her, surfboards abandoned and in a hurry. They immediately wore their shirts and vests, accompanying their wet pants, and shouted for her. Aqua went over and tied the light ultramarine fabric across her waist, a little bit confused.

"What's going on?" Aqua was absolutely clueless on why they would seem in such a panic.

"Riku said there's something fishy going on in the forests," Sora answered, pointing towards a forest located about a kilometer from their location. "Maybe Heartless, or something,"

"I'm not sure myself..." the silver-haired boy added, "But I can smell the darkness being concentrated inside there." He pulled the zipper for his shirt. "That can't be anything good,"  


* * *

  
**A/N:** This chapter is supposed to reach the scene until the three of them would have to fight, but the delay to that was so friggin' long that I'm afraid that the second part of the story won't get so much word count- and I decided to cut out the chapter here. Seriously- more than 2000 words woth nothing significant happening except me fooling around with theories. Geez...

Please **review** and tell me what you think about this filler-like chapter! Some craziness and action will ensue next chapter, feel free to kill me if I didn't do it. And for the poll, please vote on it as well! Because I need to come up with the plots, the poll will be closed the time I posted two chapters after this. Hurry up, folks!

With devotion to YOU - from the Author. 


	10. Strangers from the Outer Space

**A/N: **Sorry I haven't been updating for an extremely long time! Holidays doesn't exactly mean free time... I have to help my mother in the store, not to mention a terrible flu and my noisy cousins breaking my concentration... honestly, it's so much business! Thank you for the reviewers, **XxDarkDemonVanitasxX **(Holy crap! She reviewed! And I'm a fan of her, practically!), **MovingPen**, and **sickweirdo**- and for the loads and loads of people who had added this to the favorites/ story alerts- **GloomyMoogle, The Descending Raven, etoile-de-saphir, tmp1114, sickweirdo, XxDarkDemonVanitasxX, Shadowsonicstar, Zaconator and Zackis, Tegan Shade, icefire5689, Hurricanium Insanium, Kingdom of Zetalnarury-88, **and **Ashley3wl**! That's a whole load of people to mention- let's see... 13! *dies*

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Strangers from the Outer Space**

* * *

Lilo stood before her front door, a terrified look visible on her face. Her petite hands pressed as hard as they could into the wall, and her eyes were squinted. With every unfamiliar step she heard, she moved backwards one step.

A growling noise was heard.

Stitch, her pet dog, was brawling with several unknown creatures, viciously guarding the front door of Lilo's house. It let out a snarl before clawing the humanoid monsters into a cloud of dark dust that disappeared into thin air.

Then, without giving mercy to the tense air, a louder, more menacing thump of a step was heard. Twice, thrice, repeating over and over in the same delay of time, until a gigantic figure that was bigger than the doorway of the house loomed appeared before the little girl's sight.

Then, the door hinge was ripped off without remorse. The little girl inside the house almost jumped in surprise, her back now also pressing against the concrete wall. The incoming waves of unknown creatures ended, and Stitch made its way quickly in front of Lilo, snarling at the alien in front of them while keeping a protective stance.

The alien's toothy mouth formed a malicious smirk.

"Finally found you, experiment 626..."

* * *

Step, step, step- their footsteps was the only thing they would hear, except of the occasional rustling of the leaves and the cries of the forest animals around them. The trees beside them were nothing more than a blur before their eyes- they had entered the forest area of Kauai Island and are advancing as fast as they can to the direction Riku was leading them.

"How far is it?" Sora asked, keeping up behind Riku as they paced deeper into the forest. The vegetations are getting denser with each meter they took deeper inside.

"I guess- it's about seventy meters ahead." Riku continued his dash, his eyes focused ahead of him. Truth to be said, he was weary of this darkness that he had smelled ahead of them. The days he had spent since Ansem - or Xehanort turned Heartless had possessed him had granted him with a certain ability to 'smell' the darkness. But among all of the darkness he had sensed, it was somewhat different. It was no more or less sinister- but it smelled more to the common darkness inside people instead of a pure composite of darkness like the Pureblood Heartless that filled his days in the Realm of Darkness.

Aqua followed them without saying a word, her feet keeping in the same pace as the two boys. _I should ask them if I have the time- _she thought. _Why they are so experienced with the presence of darkness- and why are they hunting it down instead of running from it?_

Deep in her thoughts, the Keyblade master almost missed a blue blur on the ground, moving quickly her way. Without warning it jumped, in an attempt to claw her eyes out, but the blue-haired girl had saved herself as she summoned her Keyblade by reflex.

A loud 'thump' noise was heard, as the creature was stopped on its tracks before its small blue claws could reach Aqua's exposed skin. The blue-haired girl held her keyblade with two hands, one holding tight at the hilt and the other keeping the creature from getting nearer by holding the other end of the Keyblade.

When the girl was familiar with the creature in front of her- she can't help but cringe at the sight of it in such a close range. Its glowing red eyes- filled with emotions that embody the darkness itself- and the twitching movements it made as it tried to break through Aqua's hold- It was so disgusting; to the point that Aqua could even say that calling it disgusting is an understatement by itself.

A black Keyblade materialized in front of Aqua and the creature was tossed aside like in a game of baseball- Sora was holding the Oblivion with both hands, staring at the little creature with a look of bewilderment.

"What are these things?" Sora asked, in a volume louder than necessary- the tension of battle was getting inside him.

"Unversed!" Aqua replied hastily, readying her battle stance. She then let Sora stab the creature, reducing it into a dark mist of some sort.

Not a moment later, a multitude of cobalt-colored pools had surrounded them, each materializing into a creature identical to what Sora had decapitated before. Both Sora and Aqua took a step back, their backs against each other, and weapons at the ready.

"There are more of them?" Sora cursed, swiping his Oblivion in a horizontal arc and striking several of the Floods this way.

"Off with you!" Aqua yelled, quickly shooting balls of flame the direction of the multiple Unversed. The Floods were scorched into nonexistence, and with that as their mark Sora and Aqua took off, not bothering to deal with the remains.

They ran in a straight line, because they had lost their clue- Riku. Chances he had been heading straight, so they both followed the forest trail, both with no clue of where they were heading to- only guided with instinct.

They ended up in the other side of the forest.

There was a house, located higher than the ground level- and there were also several Unversed on the clearing that leads to the house.

"Riku's not here..." Sora muttered, readying his Keyblade. "I'd say we got separated..." he eyed his surroundings. The clearing was wide enough to fight without dealing damage to the building- which door had been detached mercilessly. They would have to tear past the Unversed to get through and reach the entrance of the house.

The creatures had long since discovered the entrance of Sora and Aqua, proven by how these creatures had closed the distance for them to attack. Summoning their respective Keyblades, Sora and Aqua each went into their own sides of the field, Sora taking the east wing while Aqua taking the west wing.

Oblivion in hand, Sora cloaked his weapon in flame before slamming it into the nearest scrapper which was attempting to attack him from behind, followed by kicking the Unversed against one of its companion.

They tumbled backwards and landed on the ground with soft thud, before jumping up again and rushing at the brunette. Sora waited as the distance between him and the Scrappers shorten, while making sure that his Keyblade is at the ready. And when they were near enough, he thrust it forward; the pitch-black edge of his weapon piercing through their bellies and turning them into an Unversed skewer, which soon faded away into black mist.

Sora ducked to dodge a hook from a larger Unversed, its punch barely missing his head. He then closed up his distance to the creature and shot a Blizzaga from his Keyblade, freezing the Bruiser in contact. The brunette proceeded into doing a Fire Raid, melting the ice and slashing through the Bruiser.

Aqua, in the other hand, preferred to use magic to wipe off her adversaries, starting off with Zero Gravira to lift them off the ground, effectively robbing the balance of the monsters. She then used Aeroga to scatter the smaller Unversed and damaging them in the process, by slamming them into the nearest hard object. She did a cartwheel, dodging a Mandrake's leaf cutter, and then executed it with a well-aimed triple Firaga, and at the same time targeting a Flood that hadn't been blown away by the previous gust of wind.

Aqua jumped into the air, did a back-flip in the midair, and she threw her Keyblade, which was crackling with power of thunder into an Armored Bruiser's back, zapping it and several Scrappers that were caught in the wave of electricity.

She landed smoothly after, then she and Sora looked into the remainder of the Area, making sure that nothing else was left to be defeated. They were climbing the flight of steps that leads to the entrance, when...

"BLUE PUNCH BUGGY!" a yell was heard from inside the house, sucessfully stopping the two adolescences on their tracks, wondering what it might have been. It was accompanied with the sound of a little girl shouting.

"No! It's Nani's car!"

Not a second later an alien was thrown outside the house, through the front door, together with a light blue car.

Aqua and Sora stared at the somewhat familiar figure that was thrown form the house with a great bewilderment painted on their faces.

* * *

_Step-step-step-step-step-_ Riku's shoes kicked against the forest grounds, the grass rustling as his feet stroke at the lower foliages. He had realized several minutes ago that he had been separated from Sora and Aqua, but he cannot stop running; not now. He only hoped, deep in his heart, that both of them would be safe- and so would he.

_Pant, pant_- He was panting, his Way to Dawn ready in hand, held tight as if it was his only savior. He could feel that the darkness was getting nearer and nearer- in fact, he could clearly smell it. It was like his times in Castle Oblivion, struggling against the Darkness inside him.

_SCREECH! _

Riku didn't stop running; he ran head- on to the unknown blue thing that jumped in front of him, with the edge of his blade at the ready. These creatures had been appearing before him in an alarming rate since he had lost his two companions. They smelled faintly like the Darkness, but only faintly.

_Slash!_

He raised his blade and tore through two of the floods, before ramming his blade against a scrapper that stood before him, throwing the Unversed several meters away and maimed the Hareraisers, which were aiming to smack him with those cute ears of theirs, with a Magnera spell.

The small Unversed were immediately lifted off the ground, Riku promptly ignoring them and running towards the source of Darkness. He used a Blizzara spell to build a wall of ice, separating him and the mass of Unversed behind him.

_Rip!_

Riku felt a numbing sensation from his ankles, followed by a shockingly painful surge. He fell down on his knees, and when he had checked at his ankles he realized that a razor-sharp leaf was embedded on his wound.

Swish!

Another leaf made its way through- this time slashing at his right cheek. It tore through his skin cleanly, making him wince at the throbbing feeling that he got from the line-shaped wound. Riku quickly got up, muttering a quick Cure spell to heal his wounds- which were thankfully not severe ones, and charged towards the culprit- a Mandrake, while dodging its harmful leaves and pollens.

When the distance between him and the creature was close enough, Riku glared at the small creature with hate flaring in his eyes. He raised his hands, which was soon coated in a swirling red and black Aura, and pointed his finger at the lone Unversed.

_Suffer from Hell's power, **Ignite!**_

The plant-like creature was set on fire, and he strode his way through it, stopping at a spot, filled with fallen trees. They formed a clearing in the jungle, and filling the clearing was a huge vessel of some sort, which seemed to be capable of flying through the air. The peculiar black spaceship was filled with all sorts of unknown creatures to the silver-haired boy's eyes... and all of them shared a curious symbol among them. '_The smell is the strongest in here...'_ Riku thought, _'I wonder if this ship is the source of darkness that I had sensed?'_

Not waiting for the Keyblade wielder to process all of the incoming unknown factors into his train of thought, another creature, also a curious one with the same symbol that the other creatures had with them. The ray-like monster was tall, easily reaching thirty feet in length. Its body coursed with electricity, and it started floating around the clearing, as if trying to find a way out of the jungle.

Riku drew his Way to Dawn and pointed the edge at the Unversed, shooting shards of ice from its pitch-black tip. They hit the creature, but soon melted away as if it had been nothing at all except a snowball. The creature turned at him, its three fins stretched, and charged up with electrical energy.

Noticing that it was an attacking stance, Riku ran out of the harm's way right before bolts of lighting struck the location he had been standing until moments ago. He slid below the creature, being sure no bolts of lighting would be able to hit him from above if he did that.

He soon regretted how wrong he was.

The creature's tentacle spread out above him, each crackling with a high voltage and formed a net of electrical current. Riku was caught in the trap, the attack practically shocking him to his very bone. He tried his best to resist the pain and escape form the deadly net, but his muscles had reacted very poorly to every command his brain ordered.

When the creature stopped its onslaught and ascended to the open skies, Riku was panting heavily, fighting urges to collapse on the grassy ground. He forced himself to focus, and shot several more ice shards towards the creature, sparing time to heal himself between the barrages of spells and long-range attacks in hopes to reach the currently airborne enemy.

Black energy surrounded both of his palms swirling with the power of darkness. He pressed his left hand against his right arm focusing his powers to his part of the body which held the Keyblade to form an extension of the blade, fully made of his energy and might. The silver-haired fighter smiled in satisfaction, looking at his new ability. He leaped above the black spaceship, his weapon held tightly in hand, and leaped for the Unversed with a battle cry.

The energy blade pierced through the creature's body in a clean cut, from up to down. The parts of its body that was shaved by the blade faded into a black mist, disappearing as soon as the energy blade faded and Riku landed on the ground, back facing the spaceship. He turned around, noticing that smaller creatures had escaped from the clearing when he had fought against the bigger one. He was partially grateful for that, seeing that he had barely the energy to stand properly, let alone fight.

"So, this is the source of these creatures... the faint darkness... but how did this thing get here?"

* * *

**A/N: **Well, from this I conclude that writing an action-packed chapter is nowhere near the word of 'easy'! I got a little bit frustrated writing this, but wahoo! It's a dark! Blade-Charge, courtesy of Riku! I need to find something fitting for Sora and Kairi! Well I found one for Kairi already, actually...

Don't forget to **review** and tell me if I should do chapters like this one more often! XD


	11. Meaningful Names

**A/N:** Here is chapter 11 for all of you, beloved readers! I'm trying a new style of battle scene, which actually fits better in my head. I don't know if it sits well with all of you too, though... we'll see that when I receive your comments. For this chapter, Credit goes to **XxDarkDemonVanitasxX**, and **Ashley3wl**! Thank you for the reviews! And... *finds nothing in the new favs/ alerts list* that's it. Thank you very much!

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Meaningful Names**

* * *

As the meters tall alien was thrown out of the house along wit the poor, innocent, lifeless car, Aqua staggered a bit, recognizing the victim. She then summoned her keyblade in an instant and ran after the gray creature.

Sora stood where he was, dumbfounded and unable to force his head to process what was exactly going on in front of him. It was until a small blue creature appeared from the house's broken doorway, snarling and talking barely understandable gibberish. It jumped down the stairway and crawled towards the alien, spitting green goo on its face. Sora winced a little; if that hadn't hurt, it must be humiliating. He blinked for a moment, and felt strangely familiar with the small blue creature. Squinting his eyes and trying hard to remember something, he rummaged through his pouch and pulled up a charm... a ukulele charm.

Then it all connected to his head like a wire snapping in place.

"Stitch!" Sora mouthed, too shocked to say anything else. He hadn't expected that this was the world that Stitch came from. He had assumed that his world had been destroyed when he came across him in Hollow Bastion and received the Ukulele charm. But that would explain why his attempts of summoning him had been failing.

True enough, the blue creature turned his head and looked into Sora. Overjoyed, the brunette also jumped down the stairs and embraced Stitch into a hug. He patted it head multiple times, which it happily responses by licking into Sora's face, leaving traces of sticky saliva behind. The young keyblade wielder proceeded into tickling poor Stitch until a little girl with tanned skin and long black hair ran down the stairs, panting along the way. Aqua recognized it as the little girl who had apologized to her when she was enjoying her time in the beach.

"Stitch-"She called, before noticing that her pet dog was playing with someone else. "Oh."

Sora got up; Stitch held tightly with both of his hands, and turned to the little girl. "Is this..." Sora muttered, trying to get a better word to describe Stitch. He failed miserably. "Is this your pet?"

"Yes it is" the girl answered cheerily, receiving Stitch from Sora. "Stitch is my pet dog. By the way, my name is Lilo" she offered a hand to both Sora and Aqua, her innocent smile spread from one ear into another.

"So, I'm Sora, and this girl behind me is Aqua." Both Keyblade wielders gave Lilo a handshake as Sora introduced himself and the Keyblade master. "Nice meeting you, Lilo, Stitch."

"Yes, pleasure meeting you two!" Lilo replied. "It's rare that people don't get afraid of Stitch. You see... He's kind of out of control sometimes," Lilo ruffled her pet's head when she said so. "But, you two seemed to be good to him, right, Stitch?"

"Aqua good, Sora also good!" Stitch replied, cackling afterwards.

The peaceful introduction was soon cut off, however, because suddenly Stitch let out a snarl while facing the fainted Alien. True enough, the creature immediately stood up, his right hand snatching Lilo off the ground- of course, the little girl let out a scream in both horror and surprise.

"Stitch?" the alien queried, "That was such a lame name, perfect for a lame, ferocious abomination." Aqua went wide-eyed at this, the speech from the alien confirming her hunches. This animal, Stitch, was Experiment 626. And that would mean this gigantic alien was no other than Gantu. The little girl screamed as the grip was too hard for her frail body as she struggled to escape- and the scream had successfully regained Aqua's focus to the current problem; Lilo is being kidnapped by Gantu. She was about to attack him with her Keyblade, but a wall of Black mist prevented her from doing so, and several more Unversed along with a big one, which was bound by chains, appeared before the three that remains.

"Go ahead, Aqua," Sora said, summoning his Keyblade and assuming a fighting stance. "You're going to save Lilo, right?"

"We're going toge-" Aqua was about to argue against him when the brunette immediately cut her off.

"There's no time for that!" He yelled, while guarding the attacks of several Unversed that came his way. He thrust his blade against a Monotrucker, and then launched the body which was stuck at his weapon against a horde of Shoegazers ahead of him; the Unversed was knocked back a few meters of the impact. "Besides, if you're worrying about me, I can take care of myself!"

Aqua stopped for a moment, her mind reminiscing Sora's speech in a flash. A blonde-haired boy, the age of Sora, had yelled at her in the almost same manner.

_"I can do this by myself, Aqua. Stop worrying about me!"_

The Keyblade master nodded, seeing that there was no other option and the utter uselessness of trying to defy the younger wielder, and then she turned to Stitch. "Let's go after Lilo."

"Stitch and Aqua save Lilo, Aqua follow Stitch!" The alien exclaimed, signaling at the blue-haired woman to follow her. Aqua nodded at Stitch and followed it into the depths of the jungle.

"And teach him something- about how every names are meaningful!" Sora yelled to the distance where the Keyblade Master had run off to.

As Sora watched Aqua follow Stitch into the depths of the Jungle, Sora drew a sharp breath before exhaling it. He was lying when he told his mentor that he was sure he would be able to take care of himself. Just by the first glance he knew that these creatures, the Unversed, are not a laughing matter. They were clearly more powerful than any minor Heartless he had fought, and hitting them haphazardly was not an option either. He winced a bit from the scratch he had received on his back in the previous encounter had cost him, noticing the blood dripping slowly from the wound. The wetness that trickled down his back was not comfortable at all.

"Let's have a little fun here, shall we?" Sora taunted at the big Unversed, the Iron Imprisoner. It made a growl that sent shivers down Sora's spine in response. The chains that held its hands were ringing- it was hungry for his blood. The Brunette eyed the Unversed wearily, his brain was questioning his conscious whether he was serious about fighting alone or not. His eyes quickly darted into the forest, the more fearful side of him was telling him to call for the Keyblade Master, the Keyblade Master he had told to go and save Lilo along with Stitch before. The other side of him, which was telling him about responsibility and pride, told him not to. The Keyblade wielder weighed his choices while letting his reflexes defend him with the help of his Keyblade; He wasn't one having much time to think over his choices over and over again.

Deciding that his responsibility as both a student and a friend was more important, he picked a translucent red orb with crown-shaped decorations from his pocket. He glanced at the item for a while- He had to utilize all his powers to fight this enemy; This battle, if not clearly impossible it reach victory in, would be the hardest of all battles he had ever had, considering the powerful enemies and the lack of comrades to support him. _'Donald and Goofy aren't with me... Guess I can only use this!" _He thought, pressing the orb against the clothes that covered his chest. He then closed his eyes,

"Awaken the sleeping memories inside me- **Limit Form**!"

A red light appeared form the orb that faded into the brunette's clothes, gradually, but quickly changing the color of the fabric. The formerly black clothes changed color into bright red with the exception of the vest that covered it- which remains black, accompanied with the change of color on his sleeves, gloves, and shoes, the first two changing into white while the last gained a yellow hue. Not waiting any longer for the monsters to charge at him and then take his life away, Sora lunged into the horde of smaller Unversed, swinging his Keyblade in wide arcs and hitting more than one of his targets in every swipe. He then rolled below a wild bruiser, and then tossed the enemy into the air with a powerful strike.

Sora was in a race with time. Every step of his shoes and every swing of his blade was a crucial point. It was being swift or being dead. When the large Unversed was trying to regain its balance, Sora lunged against it and pounded against it fiercely, ignoring the hoarse rasps that was his desperate lungs pleading for more oxygen and his whole body twitching from the flood of adrenaline. He had brought this by himself, and so he had to finish it by himself.

One, two, three... Sora counted the times as his black Keyblade made contact with the elastic, yet tearable surface that was the ape-like creature's skin. At the count of five, the tip of Keyblade glowed with a fierce light. Sora used the belly of the Unversed he was maiming as a trampoline, launching him into the open air. He pointed the Keyblade downwards at the scarce remains of the smaller Unversed, the light on his weapon intensifying to the point that it was hurtful to the eye to simply gaze at it.

"Eat this- Ragnarok!"

The light dispersed into sixteen bullets of light, which then Sora launched at the enemies. Four hit the Wild Bruiser, which was immediately decapitated; eight others homed against the remaining minor Unversed, and the last four shot at the Iron Imprisoner, scraping its rock-hard skin. The Keyblade wielder landed and stood face-by-face against the creature. His grip tightened around the hilt of his blade; this creature was the last one. From the start of the assault, it had only been standing there, as if it was waiting for the time to be able to rip him apart and savor his blood personally. Now that only the both of them remained, it was finally ready to do so.

Time was pitting him. He had to finish this battle quickly and precisely. But he couldn't even make a wild guess on how it will end. Sora brandished his weapon and charged against the Unversed. He was putting everything he have on the risk- even his life.

"Here I come!"

* * *

Aqua had to run in order to keep her pace synchronized with that of Stitch's. It led her deeper and deeper into the jungle, with every step she made the tense air was seeping into her. Of all the emotions she could be having right about now, she was worried. She was worried about Lilo, about the new friend that she finally made and was now in danger. She was worried about Stitch, about his condition and the risk of him going out of control. She was worried about Riku, who had been separated from them when they were tracking down the Darkness. She was worried about Sora, who insisted that he would be able to take care of the powerful Unv/ersed by himself.

They stopped in front of another clearing, but this one appeared as if it was made by force. Fallen trees line the borders of the clearing, along with cut branches and rotten leaves. There was a thick layer of smoke in the area along with a sudden raise of temperature, accompanied with a blast of hot wind that burst against them. Once the wind had died and the smoke had faded, they stopped in the clearing and found nothing- except Riku, lying on the ground with dirt and bruises all over his body. The blue-haired Keyblade wielder immediately brushed all of her thoughts aside and immediately tended the wounded fighter. Her heart was pounding hard at her ribs, even when she was trying to calm herself down. She took a deep breath in, and then out, in order to keep her mind in place.

"Refresh, **Cura!"**

Aqua's hands glowed bright green, and then she hovered her hands above the bruises and wounds on his skin. They were rapidly healed, though accompanied with the silver-haired boy wincing when the treatment of the wound underwent. When it was finally finished, Riku immediately got up, his breathing strained and in the form of pants, and pointed into the sky, "Strange thing... Kidnapping a girl... Took the spaceship... he's headed out..." he choked out, trying to maintain a tight grip to his consciousness.

Hearing this, Stitch immediately dragged Aqua into another direction, the girl having no choice but to follow. But before leaving, she pointed at the path that she used to get into the area.

"Maybe Sora is in trouble, he's further that way," she said before slowly turning around. "Please, make sure that he is alright,"

* * *

**A/N: **That was chapter 11! Thank you for your cooperation, it was much appreciated. If you can't locate the difference, the fighting scene in this chapter tries to draw out the feelings of the character as well. But nah... dunno of it worked out...

Something I want to ask- do I need to stick to the canon very strictly? For the moment I'm able to do this, but recent Tetsuya Nomura interviews proved that I need to change several important scenes in the story in order to stay to the canon. The last really blew me up in the head.

Please **review**, and tell me how to further improve this story, which styles you prefer, flame any spelling, grammar, and canonity mistakes, or just to say that I need to update more, I'll be more than happy to!


	12. sky pirating ahoy!

**A/N:** Sorry for the Lack of update... for MONTHS. I really have to stop getting addicted to every game I meet. I'm never forgetting this thing though- so enjoy an extra long chapter for now ;3

The last Chapters received quite a bit of reviews! Thank you to: **talesfangirl** (LOL at your review), **Roxel forever** (Sorry, but I have other plans for Roxas and Ven. You'll know when I get to that), **fostofina, delphigirl689, Ashley3wl, Twilight Cardmistress**, and **Athena Julilette** (thanks for the advice XD), and an anonymous reviewer... with nothing to call with. Pardon.

And for people who added this story to their Favorites/Alerts This story is built of your love!

* * *

After more running within the forest boundaries while following Stitch, which Aqua was getting slightly bored at, they arrived in front of a very peculiar vehicle. The Keyblade master even wondered if it was a vehicle at all, because it had a propeller engine, a cockpit fit for two or three, yet the red-hued object really didn't look like something that could fly.

Something bugged inside the Keyblade Master's mind while seeing the aircraft...

"What's it actually for?"

Stitch, hearing this, stopped on his tracks and turned to her.

"Stitch and Aqua use ship, Stitch and Aqua save Lilo!"

Summing Stitch's rather gibberish speak as using the ship to rescue Lilo, which according to Riku was in another spaceship, she climbed inside the vehicle and took a seat, Stitch following shortly after. Then the creature pushed a button, something that Aqua presumed was the way to start the engine. Rather than pressed, the button was rather loudly banged.

But even though extra force was applied in it, the ship didn't budge a bit.

Angered, Stitch started battering at the button, hoping that it would somehow start up. Aqua was getting worried, while they were working on finding out how to start the engine, Gantu's ship could have flown somewhere out of their sight, or even reach. On better observation, it turned out that there are edges of a broken cable poking out from the floor, which Aqua picked up.

"This might be the cause of why the ship won't start..." She wondered to herself. And then she put the cable together, casting blizzard to seal the bond. It happened in the same time as Stitch banged at the button for the umpteenth time, and as the Keyblade master expected, the engine revved up. Stitch pressed his paw to the computer screen and the propeller engines flared up, bringing them to the sky.

Happy with what he thought was a result of his hard work; Stitch grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it. The ship rocketed to the sky, the blue creature steering it in pursue of Gantu's ship.

Aqua sat back as she looked at the ship's dashboard, which said, "Jumba Jookiba's ship of Evil Geniuses"

* * *

Riku was extremely worried about Sora; if one says he would be in trouble, most likely he will be in trouble. That was what he had learned over the past years. He increased his pace, hoping he would be able to arrive before the situation gets out of hand.

But when he saw Sora in the clearing, he can't help but having rather humorous thoughts in his head.

"Hey Sora, do I need to get my old clothes to match that attire of yours?"

"Screw you," The brunette spat, glaring. "If you had time for that, release me from this prison!" He poked his Keyblade at an iron cage that held him captive. "I can't break it from inside, and there's no keyhole anywhere, if you ask."

"Fine, I'll do it." Riku walked into the middle of the clearing, his eyes keeping patrol for the enemy that held his friend captive. For a brief moment a large shadow loomed over him, then...

Boom!

Riku failed to jump out of the way in time to avoid the incoming explosion. He was thrown back a few meters, earning a few scratches and an extremely sore back. As he struggled to get up and to cast a Cure spell, he found that the cage, including Sora, was gone.

He saw the large creature before him. Its hands were sealed by chains, and it had a base of steel, floating in the air. Just one look and one can tell that it was powerful enough to crush buildings by itself.

Not a long while later, following the Iron Imprisoner, Sora came running, covered in scratches and bruises, breathe racing and his Keyblade held with both hands. He was wearing his usual black clothes rather than his old one.

"Riku- what are you doing there?" He yelled, slamming his weapon at the Unversed.

"Weren't you in that cage before!"

"Yes, it almost got me a couple of times, but I broke it after a few tries,"

A single thought ran into Riku's mind- that was an illusion, a trap. And he fell for it very easily.

His anger rose, more to the grudge of being humiliated rather than Sora getting injured in the midst of the battle. He drew his Keyblade and charged at the enemy, thrusting his blade and piercing through the creature's shoulder. When he was about to land and charge for another attack, Sora caught his left hand.

"Shall we try that?"

Riku was about to reply that with a question, but soon caught the point of what he was talking about. Keyblades clashing together and backs against each other, the two of them readied a battle stance.

"Eternal Session!"

* * *

"Ah, Human cultures are very attractive indeed!" said a one-eyed, yellow-skinned mysterious creature that was walking the forest trails along with his companion, a fat creature with a big nose, a big belly, and a bluish-purple skin. The thin one was wearing lipstick, beach hat, and a dress, with the dress spilling into the muddy ground they were walking on. "I might have to wash it again,"

"Yes, yes they are. You had said that for a million times for now. And also about the mosquitoes"

"Ah yes, the mosquitoes- I was so proud that I was able to donor my blood for them! After all, they were endangered species that only exist in Area 51..." he stopped for a moment, trying to remember something. "I mean, earth!"

"Enough with that, Pleakley- I must tell you that our mission is not to breed mosquitoes, but to capture experiment 626."

"Yes, I understand..." Pleakley answered him, a little let down by Jumba Jookiba's answer. He then focused of the road he was taking, and promptly stopped. "In the name of mosquitoes-!"

"I said stop talking about the mosquitoes!" Jumba yelled, annoyed. Then he also looked into the same direction. "-In the name of scientific reality."

The hut they were residing in was in shambles. The wall was crushed, the front door pulled out from its hinges, the stairways totally crushed, and several craters from the ground. In the center of the mess, however, were two boys, laughing and covered in dirt and bruises.

"Hey, you two!" Jumba yelled. Sora and Riku promptly stopped laughing, and sent nervous looks at each other. "What have you done to our house, huh?"

"We've done nothing!" Sora argued. "There's this big creature that kidnapped Lilo and another big creature came along with it, and..."

"Arr, enough with all those excuses!" Jumba cut the brunette off, an angered tone in his voice. "Now you pay for the building's repair and whatnot!"

"Wait... Jumba!" Pleakley swung his hands in front of the scientist, preventing him from venting off his steam at the two. "These guys said something about Lilo!"

"What? You know Lilo?" the fat alien eyed them suspiciously, as if to imply that Sora and Riku were convicted for arson, murder, and jaywalking.

"Yes we do! And we do know that a fifteen-foot tall alien is taking her away as we speak; and Stitch is chasing him!" Sora replied, finding difficulties to get along with the grumpy alien. "Rather than arguing about nonsense here, why don't we go chase the alien and save the damsel?"

"What alien? The only aliens here are me and Jumba..." Pleakley trailed off in the middle of his sentence. "Or did this peculiar, suspicious fifteen-foot tall alien bring his own ship?"

"A big, black, menacing one at that," Riku, who was the witness of the ship, replied.

"Oh."

An awkward silence then ensued. But after a short pause, Pleakley was holding Jumba's shoulder with both hands and shaking him furiously.

"It's Gantu, Jumba! It's Gantu! He's here and he's after experiment 626! He's also taken Lilo hostage! And I'm sure he's going to report us to the headquarters!" He said, before taking a deep breath in and falling into his knees. "And I'm going to be taken prisoner! I don't want to be a prisoner..." His head was touching the ground as he said that, sobbing occasionally. "Am I doomed like this?" he wailed.

Riku hesitantly stared at the sulking alien, being more than a little bit overwhelmed by his actions. "Is he... always acting like this?"

"Always," replied Jumba, pulling Pleakley up. "I'm pretty sure we know the alien you were talking about. Mind if we use our ship for the pursuit?" He brought out a black-and red device similar to what we call a remote control from his clothes.

Riku eyed the object suspiciously, trying to figure out the object's purpose, while Sora stepped closer, despite his former opinion about how Jumba was pissing him off. He looked at the item curiously, wondering what it would do. Jumba just ignored him and began typing in codes to his gadget.

Sora and Riku waited anxiously for the fat alien to finish typing in commands for the device. In their minds, various images of what would the ship looked like formed, ranging from the shape of Gummi ships to a laser-shooting aerial skateboard.

All they met was silence, followed by Jumba slamming the meant thing and the two boys' imaginations into the floor. "Dammit! The ship was hijacked!"

"What should we do? What should we do?" Pleakley screams in panic, running in circles with Jumba as its center. The scientist then brought out his left hand, letting it slam at Pleakley's poor face. The reaction was an ouch', followed by Jumba clearing his throat as Pleakley was rubbing his face.

"If worse comes to worst... The final option is to hijack a ship for ourselves"

* * *

Sora was grateful that the aliens were actually residents of this area, because they won't have the time just for asking people around for the airport's location. They had grabbed the blue car that was thrown outside the house not very long ago, and though it was dented, everyone had thanked the fact that it would still move. Riku took the driver's seat and Pleakley acted as a guide, while the last two took the back seat and not even making eye contact with each other. When they arrived at the airport they quickly drove through to the line of airplanes and stopped in front a single airplane, one which was probably for military use because it was quite small.

Of course, considering that they broke into the garage, the alarm blared white emanating a red light. Everyone cussed, knowing they would deal with some kind of security system, but they made their way inside the plane anyway.

"Attention, please leave the plane at once," the voice was barely heard by the group because of the alarm blaring was just as loud, if not louder. "If you do not leave, we will have to take security measures. I repeat..."

"Like hell it's going to stop us!" Sora took the driver's seat, settled himself, and attempted to figure out the controls of the airplane.

But, he failed to find anything. He had expected to find only the gas meter, the steering wheel, and the trigger- but what he found was more than that- there were at least 20 meters on the panel. Sora cursed a little in his mind, at the same time wondering why they should make such troublesome systems.

The sudden realization than dawned unto him- airplanes are much more complicated than Gummi Ships. He turned his head back nervously, not daring to touch anything. He feared that he would screw up and the plane would blow up on them or fail the launching by smacking on a nearby wall. "Does anybody here know how to drive a plane...?"

"Like hell it's gonna stop us... yeah, right," Riku retorted, feeling the urge of putting a palm on his face. "You better do something fast, I bet the security's coming after us right about now."

"If ye're lookin' for someone to fly the ship, why not choose Pleakley?" Jumba patted the back of his alien friend hard, it sent the latter to a coughing feat, which might be caused by both the statement and the patting. "He's an expert when it comes to unknown things, especially in this planet"

"W-w-wait a second!" Pleakley stuttered. "You can't be serious! Why me, of all people?"

Everyone's eyes were pointed to Pleakley in that second, and the entrance door, which had been locked by Sora, was being banged hard. Riku winced a bit, he was sure that it was the security people coming inside. He didn't want his face to be shown to public as criminals, not in a world he's not even familiar of. He intensified his glare against Pleakley, who visibly flinched in reaction.

"...We don't have a choice, do we?"

* * *

"Watch out!"

Stitch turned the steering wheel violently to the right, barely missing a laser beam aimed directly at the cockpit of their ship. Aqua was having an adrenaline attack- when usually she would try to solve things the calm way; there was nothing she can do when she was not the one in control. She felt the urge to yell at Stitch and tell him to drive at a gentler pace, but she was unable to drive the ship by herself. If only this was her Keyblade Glider, she would have taken control of it long ago.

Stitch was not one to give up either, he kept charging against the big, black ship at full velocity while trying his best to avoid any incoming laser beams. Aqua was in charge of checking on the wire she ice-bonded earlier and any incoming attacks Stitch had missed. If Lilo wasn't trapped there, screaming for Stitch to help her, Aqua wouldn't hesitate to freeze the rockets and let it fall down to the sea. Problem is, she couldn't- it's too dangerous to do just that.

Aqua had just realized it wasn't the time to be complaining when she heard an explosion near her position. It came with a vibration- enough to indicate that the plane's balance was disturbed. Recovering from the shock, she realized that the earth's surface was closing on them, in quite a pace at that.

"Attention, we are losing altitude," the machinated assistant software spoke, alerting them on the situation. Aqua was still trying to hold on to the faith that she would survive, and that was one heavy hit to her faith. "The fuel is running low, and the balancing unit has been disturbed,"

Aqua cringed a bit at the sight after that. Stitch was yelling at the machine in a language she can't even understand, maybe telling it to shut up, But still pulled on the ramps as if there was a chance, even how little, to save Lilo- a chance that she had actually threw away when she saw Gantu escaping with a spaceship.

But the little blue creature kept on trying, even if there was almost zero chance.

"Lilo... Stitch... Ohana..." Stitch pulled the steering wheel as hard as he could, in an attempt to raise the plane's altitude. Its body was sweating. It was gritting its own teeth and he was only relying on sheer willpower. Stitch, who wasn't even human, was struggling for its family- its friend. "Nobody... gets left ...behind..."

As if in reflex, Aqua summoned her Keyblade, pointed it at the gargantuan ship in front of her, as shimmers of light gathered on its silver tip and grew bigger in size. Stitch kept on pulling the steering wheel, managing to get in an altitude higher than Gantu's ship which was nearing the edge of troposphere.

"Bend the hands of time Slow!"

The blob of light on Aqua's Keyblade inflated as it was released, growing bigger and bigger as it swallowed the ship Gantu was in. The vehicle slowed down dramatically, and the distance between the two ships shortened and shortened to the state that the ship Aqua was riding was exactly above it. Stitch let out a "wow" and cheered himself for being able to catch up. But... the problem was far, far away from over.

"Go, Stitch!" Aqua shouted to little blue creature, which rolled up to a ball almost immediately after hearing the Keyblade master. Aqua took a position beside the window, and then she threw Stitch towards the ship.

Noticing that the ship needs a driver, Aqua moved herself to the driver's seat, and she pulled the steering wheel in order to keep their altitude. She wasn't surprised that it didn't work, but she attempted to make sure the ship will make a soft landing- at least so it won't crush to the sea.

In her journey towards the world's surface, she noticed an airplane flying wildly in the sky. Aqua was quite afraid that it would collide with her ship, and so avoided contact. The airplane's window opened, revealing a spiky spot of brown that seemed familiar.

"Aqua!"

Then she realized who it was.

"Sora!" she yelled, spotting Sora who was waving at her from the seemingly unbalanced airplane. "What are you doing there?"

"Pleakley's having trouble flying the ship- that's not the time now! Get over here, now!" Sora replied, shouting in order for his voice to reach Aqua in the midst of the noise from both planes.

Aqua tried her best to keep her cool, contemplating on a way for her to be able to reach a ship that was far in distance and higher in altitude from her. Zero Gravity would work, but she could not control it- much less using Aero.

Then an idea crossed her mind.

"Sora!" she yelled. "Try to get your plane here!"

"You got that!" came the reply. Aqua took a deep breath, letting magic trickle on her fingers. She opened the ship's door, stood before it, and as her feet pushed forward, launching her to the open air, her keyblade was pointed to the ground.

"Zero Gravity!" she yelled, the magic kept her suspended in the air as Pleakley drove the airplane towards her. Sora opened the airplane's door, stretched his arm as far as he could, and in the split second when the airplane swooped over he caught Aqua by the hand and pulled her in.

And by the time Sora had, Aqua cancelled the magic so she would not be floating inside the airplane.

"What fine lass- Aqua's her name?" asked Jumba, slightly wooing the Keyblade- Master.

"Yes, I am Aqua. It's a pleasure to meet you..." she offered her hand, meeting with the other's big, fleshy one. They both exchanged smiles for a while, each trying to judge the other's character. Soon their grips tightened, and they released not long after.

"Aqua, where's Stitch?" Riku asked, unable to locate the blue-furred little dog'. "He's with you all the time, isn't he?"

"Well..." Aqua stopped a bit, searching her brain for proper words to explain the current situation. "He's on that ship trying to save Lilo. " she pointed at the currently suspended ship.

The others cannot help but rush to the windows, worried about the little fellow. Stitch was there, crawling from inside the ship to the capsule that contained Lilo, a strange backpack attached to his body.

"That's a parachute- that creature sure has a good train of thought," Riku commented.

It was easy for Stitch to melt the glass with acidic goo, and after pulling Lilo out, he grabbed her into a tight hug and jumped off the ship together- of course not forgetting to pull the parachute's inflator cord.

Gantu, who had been under the effect of the slow spell- didn't even know that Stitch had slipped in his ship and freed Lilo.

Well, Sora and Riku sure knew, and they took this as an opportunity for payback. They both pointed towards Gantu's ship, and with a mutual smile, shot Firaga from their Keyblades and scorched the side of the ship.

Needless to say, it crashed to the forest below as soon as the slow spell wore off.

* * *

Days later...

"It's a good thing the alliance was present- capturing Gantu was made a lot easier," Pleakley commented cheerily. "After all, nobody has the right to mess up with area 51 I mean, Earth!"

Riku, Sora, and Aqua were happy to hear this- but a problem still rested in their heads. They have been staying at the inn for some time, and they didn't have any actual business in this world- they have to go sooner or later, but how?

Stitch noticed their worries, and then pulled at Lilo's dress. He then made a series of gestures, which could hardly be understand- even by Lilo, and after a whole minute, Lilo finally understood the meaning.

"Jumba," she called, "Have you repaired the ship yet?"

Jumba turned his head to face Lilo, a little bit appalled to have a little girl ask about his ship. "Of course I have! This evil genius would have anything done in a second!"

"But you're planning to stay here, right?"

"Uh... yes... more or less so..." he answered.

"Why don't we lend the ship to Sora and his friends?" Lilo smiled as she said this. "After all, they saved Stitch and me, right?"

Jumba was hesitant. It was his ship after all. He could not let go of it very easily. But Lilo's eyes were very pleading. And to add salt to injury, Stitch mirrored her action. Jumba made Stitch as a killing machine... but he also had to admit that it was ridiculously cute for a killing machine.

"I suppose so..." Jumba trailed off. "Fine, it goes as the little girl wished."

"Yay!" Lilo exclaimed, almost jumped. "I have to let them know about this! Aren't you happy too, Stitch?" she asked. Stitch nodded at this, and they went after the trio who were sitting around a circular table, drinking coconut water.

"Sora! Riku! Aqua!" She shouted, "Jumba said you three can use his ship!"

"Seriously!" Sora exclaimed, his eyes lit up with an unexplainable glee. "That's awesome!" Then he glanced at both Riku and Aqua, who had smiles on their faces as well.

"Well, we have to say goodbye pretty soon, then..." as Aqua stood up, Stitch came over to her and pulled out a star-shaped item from her pocket.

"A-koo-wah... friends?" it asked. Expectant beady eyes meeting somewhat melancholic, aquamarine eyes, Aqua then sat down beside the creature.

"Of course, Stitch," Aqua replied, holding the Wayfinder together with him. "We're best friends,"

"Aww..." Sora cooed at the sight. "Such sweet moments."

* * *

~Disney Castle~

"Kairi, try harder!" said Goofy, Preparing his shield for impact. "It's a training, but let's treat it as if real battle, a-hyuck!"

Kairi pointed her Keyblade at Goofy's shield, sending shards of Ice towards its center and charging through for direct attack. She slashed her Destiny's Embrace a few times across the metal shield, creating a clanking noise each time the weapons connected.

Donald joined the fray, shooting balls of flame which Kairi ducked and ended up hitting Goofy's shield. She then countered with a Thundara, which missed its target ever so slightly.

This kind training has been on for five months, exactly after Kairi had experienced her awakening. She had been much more fluent in using her keyblade and casting magic as of late, and grew accustomed of melee fights much more than before. She had undergone a lot of improvement, and neither Donald nor Goofy could deny it.

Kairi was in a way, the same level as Sora was. Even though their fighting styles differed in a lot of ways, the display of sheer power would place them as equals. Some was thanks to the King's teachings and patience, but Kairi's growth rate was also incredible.

It was, after all, only had been 5 months.

"That's enough, you three." The three stopped right at once when they spotted King Mickey by the garden they were training on. "I think you three have done well today,"

"Thank you, your majesty!" Kairi, Donald and Goofy bowed their heads as a salute to King Mickey.

"Donald, Goofy, I want you to accompany me to the Mysterious Tower, we are going to meet Master Yen Sid, there are some matters that I have to discuss with him."

"Your Majesty... can I come too?" Kairi asked. She was eager to go, eager to see for herself who was this Master Yen Sid'. It had been five months living only in the castle. She wasn't saying it was boring. She was just getting too anxious about meeting with Sora and Riku.

And going to other worlds would ramp the chances of meeting up... right?

"Kairi..." Mickey looked at her for a moment. "Sorry, but I can't let you come... yet,"

"Aww..." Kairi pouted. "But you'll be back soon, right?"

"That's a promise."

Kairi thought for a moment, but decided she was not going to bother King Mickey for her own selfish reasons. He was a King, after all, and he had problems far more than she could think of.

"Okay, have a safe journey, your Majesty."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

* * *

Well, next we will cover about the Disney trio almost nobody has cared about! And they will have a lot to do with the plot. (Yes I'm as evil as that, if you think it is evil.)

The poll results have come out (for the first world)! The following will be featured on the next chapters:

**The Three Musketeers**

As for the second... there was a tie between Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hercules, and Toy Story. by the time I finished the "Three musketeers" line, I'll recheck the poll. Keep voting until then! ;D

And... don't forget to review, too!


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